encircle

English

Etymology

From en- +‎ circle.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈsɜːkl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈsɝkl̩/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kəl

Verb

encircle (third-person singular simple present encircles, present participle encircling, simple past and past participle encircled)

1. (transitive) To surround, form a circle around.
   • 1989, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts, August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 70:

     […] two Russian armies would advance into East Prussia, one westward from the Niemen, the other northward from the Narew, with the object of encircling and immobilizing all enemy forces there.

   • 2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America‎^[1], volume 182, number 21:

     Down through the centuries, as the Holy Spirit graces person after person in land after land, they form together a grand company of "friends of God and prophets" (Wis. 7:27); a community of holy people endeavoring to live their lives praising God, loving each other and struggling for justice and peace. This is a company that not only encircles the globe in space but stretches backward and forward in time.

2. (transitive) To move or go around completely.
   • 1996, Macy Nulman, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer, page 385:

     It is also customary in the Orient and among Sephardim for the mourners to encircle the coffin of an erudite person seven times and recite Yoshayv besayter while making each circuit.

Synonyms

• circulize
• orb

Derived terms

• encirclement

Translations

surround

• Aromanian: ntsircljedz
• Bulgarian: обкръжавам (bg) (obkrǎžavam)
• Catalan: encerclar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 包圍／包围 (zh) (bāowéi), 環繞／环绕 (zh) (huánrào)

• Dutch: omsingelen (nl)
• Esperanto: ĉirkaŭi (eo)
• Finnish: ympäröidä (fi), saartaa (fi)
• French: encercler (fr) f
• Friulian: cenzi, cercenâ, circundâ, contornâ
• Galician: cercar
• German: umzingeln (de), einfassen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: κυκλόω (kuklóō)

• Hungarian: körbevesz (hu)
• Ido: encirkligar (io)
• Irish: ciorclaigh, timpeallaigh
• Italian: accerchiare (it), circondare (it), contornare (it), cingere (it)
• Latin: circumdō
• Manchu: ᡨᠣᡵᡥᠣᠮᠪᡳ (torhombi)
• Maori: whiwhi, whawhe, awhe, ponitaka, tarawhiti, whakatāewa (as an enemy),
• Mongolian: тойруулах (tojruulax)
• Ottoman Turkish: چنبرلمك (çemberlemek), صارمق (sarmak)
• Persian: فراگیری (fa) (farâgiri), محاصره (fa) (mohâsere)
• Polish: okrążać (pl) impf, okrążyć (pl) pf, otaczać (pl) impf, otoczyć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: cercar (pt)
• Romanian: înconjura (ro), încercui (ro), împresura (ro)
• Russian: окружа́ть (ru) impf (okružátʹ), окружи́ть (ru) pf (okružítʹ)
• Sanskrit: वेवेष्टि (sa) (veveṣṭi)
• Scottish Gaelic: cuairtich
• Serbo-Croatian: okružiti (sh), zaokružiti (sh)
• Spanish: rodear (es)
• Telugu: గిరికొను (girikonu), చుట్టుకొను (te) (cuṭṭukonu)
• Ukrainian: ото́чувати impf (otóčuvaty), оточи́ти pf (otočýty)
• Welsh: cylchu (cy), amgylchynu (cy)

to move or go around completely

• Maori: taiāwhio
• Persian: فراگرفتن (fa) (farâgeregtan), محاصره کردن (fa) (mohâsere kardan)

Anagrams

• licencer