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:
The idea was to surround the young core with veterans and immediately become competitive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 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
Researchers at the LMS, Imperial and UCL wanted to understand where these cells are located in untreated tumors, what distinguishes them and which other cells tend to surround them.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026
Even biologists choose to think this about themselves, despite the evidences of the absolute inevitability of death that surround their professional lives.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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
While controversy surrounds the embarrassingly blurry line between college football and the National Football League, our culture needs to take a moment to commend and steward the glorious tradition of high-school football.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
The heliosphere is the vast protective bubble produced by the Sun that surrounds the solar system.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026
According to Dad, the Wallinzi, the tribe we descend from, live in the city that surrounds the garden.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
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
Sweet Harvest Church is surrounded by agricultural fields in an area of Fresno where many low-income families live and work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 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
The people of Liberty City surrounded her, talking over each other to tell her what had happened to them and where they lived and what they needed.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
The company has spent more than three years renovating the spaces surrounding the original Prada store, opened there by Miuccia Prada’s grandfather Mario in 1913.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Studying naturally occurring cancer in pets could therefore help researchers investigate how genetics and the surrounding environment interact.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 27, 2026
When the latest details surrounding her death emerged this week, she said she was "starting to break down".
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
Iranian officials unveiled the proposal during a week of diplomacy surrounding the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
Still living at Castle Doleful, fourteen-year-old Kate was steeped in the morbid gloom surrounding Mary Greeley.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
