- present participle of surround.
surrounding
Americannoun
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something that surrounds.
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surroundings, environing things, circumstances, conditions, etc.; environment.
He was too sick to be aware of his surroundings.
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the act of encircling or enclosing.
adjective
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enclosing or encircling.
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being the environment or adjacent area.
Synonym Usage
See environment.
Etymology
Origin of surrounding
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English: literally “inundation”; see origin at surround, -ing 1, -ing 2
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.
The jury which condemned Patterson to prison were supposed to be isolated - sheltered from the frenzy surrounding the case while they deliberated.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Students carefully remove soil with trowels while moving along paths between areas containing the remains of a 17th-century kitchen, a friar's residence, and the surrounding Potano village.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
The chart below shows the decline in manufacturing jobs in the St. Louis metro area, which refers to surrounding regions such as St. Louis County and St. Charles County.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
She calls for a “fearless reckoning with depraved art and artists,” which brings us back to the cultural cries surrounding us when we picked up this book.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
When we reach the bluff, Babs points to a patch of dense thickets surrounding its base.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
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.
