1
as in circling
to travel completely around
communication satellites encircling the earth
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in encompassing
to form a circle around
immediately after announcing their engagement, the couple was encircled by their applauding friends
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in surrounding
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of encircling
Calmatters, The Mercury News, 20 Mar. 2025
The flower has a row of large outer petals (guard petals) encircling a center of petalodes or small, narrow yellow inner petals.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 9 Mar. 2025
Numerous tour operators offer boating excursions encircling it.
—Chadd Scott, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2025
The team created a system of panels and hinges that stretch locally to overcome the difficulty of encircling curved objects with flat sheets without creases.
—Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 24 Feb. 2025
Among its customizable features are the color ring encircling the dial, offered in 150 hues, and various strap and stitching choices.
—Ming Liu, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2025
Known as an Einstein ring, the halo was captured in photos encircling a galaxy nearly 590 million light-years away, which is considered close by cosmic standards.
—Greg Wehner, Fox News, 11 Feb. 2025
When the Army announced plans to add another barbed wire fence tightly encircling the residential barracks, responses varied dramatically.
—Eric Muller, The Mercury News, 26 Jan. 2025
Spelling Bee online is presented as six hexagons encircling a seventh.
—John McPhee, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
Adjective
One audience member, a lifelong resident, commented that funnelling fleeing motorists into a single highway encircling the lake would be dangerous.
—Calmatters, The Mercury News, 20 Mar. 2025
The flower has a row of large outer petals (guard petals) encircling a center of petalodes or small, narrow yellow inner petals.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 9 Mar. 2025
Numerous tour operators offer boating excursions encircling it.
—Chadd Scott, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2025
The team created a system of panels and hinges that stretch locally to overcome the difficulty of encircling curved objects with flat sheets without creases.
—Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 24 Feb. 2025
Among its customizable features are the color ring encircling the dial, offered in 150 hues, and various strap and stitching choices.
—Ming Liu, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2025
Known as an Einstein ring, the halo was captured in photos encircling a galaxy nearly 590 million light-years away, which is considered close by cosmic standards.
—Greg Wehner, Fox News, 11 Feb. 2025
When the Army announced plans to add another barbed wire fence tightly encircling the residential barracks, responses varied dramatically.
—Eric Muller, The Mercury News, 26 Jan. 2025
Spelling Bee online is presented as six hexagons encircling a seventh.
—John McPhee, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for encircling
Verb
-
The circling speculation on the 41-year-old future Hall of Famer is that the Jets will release him or that Rodgers could even retire from the NFL.—
Dan Perry,
Newsweek,
4 Jan. 2025
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Robinson’s effectiveness for Fulham, detailed here by The Athletic, has created plenty of speculation about whether some of the big clubs might be circling for a January signing.—
Paul Tenorio,
The Athletic,
4 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Speaking of surrounding herself with loved ones, Gomez has been doing that with Blanco, particularly over the holiday season.—
Dayna Haffenden,
People.com,
4 Jan. 2025
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But the confidence surrounding their team under Travis Green’s coaching could help.—
Scott Powers,
The Athletic,
4 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Many street photographers prefer rangefinders because their viewfinders show more than what an attached lens captures, which is handy for anticipating subjects entering or exiting the frame.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
23 July 2025
-
The Nashville Public Library’s main branch in downtown Nashville was slated to reopen at the end of July, more than a month after a fire broke out in the attached parking garage.—
Austin Hornbostel,
Nashville Tennessean,
20 July 2025
Adjective
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For a disease to be transmitted, a tick must stay connected to its host for 24 to 36 hours.—
Janet Loehrke,
USA Today,
30 July 2025
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This technology provides advanced threat protection across connected devices in the home and adds privacy with VPN when connecting at home or on the road.—
Mark Sparrow,
Forbes.com,
29 July 2025
Adjective
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No one can peer at their respective architectures, weights (the various connection strengths among linked neurons), or activations (what numbers are being calculated given the inputs and weights while the models are running) without the company granting special access.—
Jonathan L. Zittrain,
The Atlantic,
21 May 2025
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Overall, Pro-Tek’s storage and services are very much linked, driving a business mix that is close to 50-50.—
Brent Simon,
Variety,
14 Mar. 2024
Adjective
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The term also reflects what psychologists call peripheral group membership—being part of a group but not central to it.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 July 2025
-
The cardinal symptom of peripheral artery disease is claudication.—
Colleen Doherty,
Verywell Health,
20 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Encircling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/encircling. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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