encapsulate

verb en·cap·su·late \ in-ˈkap-sə-ˌlāt , en- \

|Updated on: 4 Aug 2018

Examples: encapsulate in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of encapsulate

encapsulated; encapsulating

transitive verb

1 : to enclose in or as if in a capsule

a pilot encapsulated in the cockpit

2 : epitomize, summarize

encapsulate an era in an aphorism

intransitive verb

: to become encapsulated

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encapsulation

play \in-ˌkap-sə-ˈlā-shən, en-\ noun

See encapsulate defined for English-language learners

See encapsulate defined for kids

encapsulate was our Word of the Day on 12/05/2017. Hear the podcast!

Examples of encapsulate in a Sentence

The contaminated material should be encapsulated and removed.
can you encapsulate the president's speech in about a paragraph?

Recent Examples of encapsulate from the Web

Bieneman: Lee Milano’s whole life, encapsulated into one inning.

— rich mayor, chicagotribune.com, "'A miracle happened': An oral history of Nazareth's seven-run rally to reach state," 26 June 2018
Mayfield wrote and produced the soundtrack, hoping to simultaneously distill and amplify the essence of the film while sonically encapsulating the rage and struggle of the drug trade and black America in the 1970s.

— sonaiya kelley, latimes.com, "Why Director X chose Future to follow in Curtis Mayfield's footsteps curating the 'SuperFly' soundtrack," 22 June 2018
Pompeo, who flew to Seoul to brief South Korean leaders, said the brief, four-point joint statement that emerged from the summit did not encapsulate all the progress the U.S. and North Korea had made.

— Washington Post, "Trump claim raises eyebrows: NKorea no longer a nuke threat?," 14 June 2018
The Chinese reaction underscored the importance that Beijing has placed on ZTE’s survival, and the company’s travails have encapsulated the worries among Chinese leaders that their country depends too much on US technology.

— keith bradsher, BostonGlobe.com, "China welcomes Trump’s help on ZTE as trade talks loom," 14 May 2018
Spurs’ taste for self-destruction was such a cliché that an adjective — Spursy — had been coined to encapsulate it.

— rory smith, New York Times, "Pochettino Has Mastered the Process. A Prize, Any Prize, Still Eludes Him.," 21 Apr. 2018
The changes in the cabinet are best represented by Kudlow, whose public statements since assuming Cohn’s job as head of the National Economic Council encapsulate the new level of chaos gripping the administration.

— alex shephard, The New Republic, "The Wrongest Man in Washington," 19 Apr. 2018
This new oral delivery features insulin-ionic liquid formation encapsulated in an acid-resistant enteric coating.

— fiza pirani, ajc, "These insulin pills could replace daily injections for diabetics, study says," 28 June 2018
But the story of why the Patriots win is encapsulated in the first five paragraphs of my story.

— SI.com, "Peter King’s Favorite Stories, from SI and The MMQB," 28 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'encapsulate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Encapsulate and its related noun, "capsule," derive from "capsula," a diminutive form of the Latin noun capsa, meaning "box." "Capsa" also gave us our noun "case" (the container kind; the legal sense has a different origin). The original sense of encapsulate, meaning "to enclose something in a capsule," first appeared in the late 19th century. Its extended meaning, "to give a summary or synopsis of something," plays on the notion of a capsule as something compact, self-contained, and often easily digestible (as in a capsule of medicine). There is also a verb "capsule," which is more or less synonymous with "encapsulate."

First Known Use of encapsulate

1872

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

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encapsulate Synonyms

Synonyms

abstract, boil down, digest, epitomize, outline, recap, recapitulate, sum up, summarize, wrap up;

Near Antonyms

elongate, extend, lengthen, prolong, protract;

amplify, elaborate (on or upon), enlarge (on or upon), expand, supplement;

downsize, shrink;

concentrate, consolidate;

simplify, streamline;

ENCAPSULATE Defined for English Language Learners

encapsulate

verb

Definition of encapsulate for English Language Learners

: to show or express the main idea or quality of (something) in a brief way
: to completely cover (something) especially so that it will not touch anything else