surround
Americanverb (used with object)
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surrounds,
present (3rd person singular)
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surrounded,
past participle, past
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surrounding
present participle
noun
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something that surrounds, as the area, border, etc., around an object or central space.
a tile surround for the shower stall.
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environment or setting.
The designer created a Persian surround for the new restaurant.
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Hunting.
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a means of hunting in which wild animals are encircled and chased into a special spot that makes their escape impossible.
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the act of hunting by this means.
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the location encircled by hunters using this means.
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verb
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to encircle or enclose or cause to be encircled or enclosed
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to deploy forces on all sides of (a place or military formation), so preventing access or retreat
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to exist around
I dislike the people who surround her
noun
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a border, esp the area of uncovered floor between the walls of a room and the carpet or around an opening or panel
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a method of capturing wild beasts by encircling the area in which they are believed to be
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the area so encircled
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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surroundsimple
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surroundssimple
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have surroundedperfect
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has surroundedperfect
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am surroundingprogressive
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are surroundingprogressive
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is surroundingprogressive
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have been surroundingperfect progressive
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has been surroundingperfect progressive
Past
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surroundedsimple
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had surroundedperfect
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was surroundingprogressive
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were surroundingprogressive
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had been surroundingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of surround
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English surounden “to inundate, submerge,” from Anglo-French surounder, Middle French s(o)ronder, from Late Latin superundāre “to overflow,” equivalent to Latin super- super- + undāre “to flood,” derivative of unda “wave” ( see undulate); current spelling by analysis as sur- 1 + round 1 (verb)
Explanation
When you think of the word surround, think of something that's around you on all sides, like the trees that surround you in a forest or the people who surround you on a city street at rush hour. Sometimes surround describes the position of troops that force the enemy to surrender. You can also surround your property with a fence, or surround yourself with positive people. Both of these offer a way to protect or strengthen the thing in the middle — your house or your well-being. In a movie theater that has "surround sound," the audience feels like it is in the middle of the action because of the speakers placed all around the space.
Vocabulary lists containing surround
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Mr. Fiennes roams the gardens that surround the home Maupassant had built in 1883 and cycles by a stretch of the Seine where the author sailed his boats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Questions surround why it suddenly dropped from the sky.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Other issues surround the company, including constraints on computing power and tight competition with OpenAI, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
It hopes to dampen the speculation that would surround Borthwick if the end of his contract was tied to that of England's World Cup campaign.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
An impressive number of emergency vehicles surround my house; red-and-blue lights splash across the lawn and down the street.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
Nor is he satisfied with regularly televised Oval Office events, where he surrounds himself with administration officials singing hosannas to his greatness.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026
Be sure to check out Mendocino Headlands State Park, which nearly surrounds the village, and the Point Mendocino Trail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
The cordon surrounds the scene, which is close to the fishing lake, and two camping tents - one of which is white with a navy blue trim - have been pitched.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
The felt surrounds the 3D-printed restoration and gives gases released by the resin a way to escape.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
It returned, Mai figured, back to the larger whole that surrounds us all.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Its mouth is triangular, divided into three lips, and surrounded by sensory tendrils, giving it an appearance reminiscent of a tiny marine Sarlacc pit.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026
He sat directly in front of me, surrounded by several of the masked men who had now taken off their balaclavas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
After enduring 30 Chicago winters, I gifted myself my Hollywood dream of being an actor surrounded by palm trees and green juice rather than tundra and cheese.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
"I don't create it, my team do," said Pollock of the speculation that has surrounded his future over the past seven weeks.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Skinny as I was, I didn’t want to take any chances, so I didn’t go far—just far enough to be surrounded by tall trees where no one from The Village would see me.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
If some ancient inks contained lead, he reasoned, that metal might absorb X rays far more strongly than the surrounding carbonized papyrus.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
Across the surrounding countryside, seepages resemble miniature volcanoes overflowing with crude and leaving hardened black trails.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
Bunch “briefed the Regents on his efforts to navigate the dual pandemics caused by the Coronavirus and issues surrounding race, racism, and racial identity,” the minutes of the June 2020 meeting stated.
From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2026
However, the circumstances surrounding individual strikes are difficult to independently verify.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Seven and Thorn did as she said, surrounding the Nightbeast as best they could and barraging it with combat spells as fast as they could go.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
