encompass - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English encompassen. By surface analysis, en- +‎ compass.

encompass (third-person singular simple present encompasses, present participle encompassing, simple past and past participle encompassed)

  1. (transitive) To form a circle around; to encircle.
  2. (transitive) To include within its scope; to circumscribe or go round so as to surround; to enclose; to contain.
    Synonym: embrace
    • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene i:
      his piercing inſtruments of ſight:
      Whose fiery circles beare encompaſſed
      A heauen of heauenly bodies in their Spheares:
    • 1994, Richard Mowery Andrews, Law, Magistracy, and Crime in Old Regime Paris, page 551:
      Those trajectories encompassed absolute social extremes: the kings of France making their solemn entries into Paris through the Ludovician Arch of the Porte [...]
    • 2017, Paul B. Stretesky, Michael J. Lynch, Radical and Marxist Theories of Crime:
      In order to address the systematic, processual character of interpersonal interactions — the larger mosaic of micro-level patterns — we must postulate subapparent but encompassing structures of social activity.
    • 2020 March 6, Catherine Opie, “Catherine Opie: ‘Beauty has to encompass more about the human condition’”, in CNN‎[1]:
      Beauty is complicated; it’s an individual response to how we live our lives – but it can also encompass kindness and compassion.
    • 2024 October 3, CARY, “Spooktober: The Horror that Surrounds”, in VIRTUAL BASTION‎[2]:
      In developing a new theme for this year’s rounds of Spooktober posts, we decided to look beyond the realm of strictly horror games to cover a topic that we hadn’t touched on before, one that encompasses games generally and allows for a little “outside the box” thinking. Our Spooktober theme this year is “The Horror that Surrounds.”
    • 2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Will devolution deliver real local control?”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 44:
      Mayor Andy Burnham's Bee Network already encompasses the buses and trams, and now he has his sights set on the railways.
  3. (transitive) To include completely; to describe fully or comprehensively.
    Synonym: (now rare) comprehend
    This book on English grammar encompasses all irregular verbs.
  4. (transitive) To go around, especially, to circumnavigate.
    Drake encompassed the globe.

encircle

surround