surround

play

verb sur·round \ sə-ˈrau̇nd \

Definition of surround

transitive verb

1 a (1) :to enclose on all sides :envelop

the crowd surrounded her

(2) :to enclose so as to cut off communication or retreat :invest

b :to form or be a member of the entourage of

flatterers who surround the king

c :to constitute part of the environment of

surrounded by poverty

d :to extend around the margin or edge of :encircle

a wall surrounds the old city

2 :to cause to be surrounded by something

surrounded himself with friends

See surround defined for English-language learners

See surround defined for kids

Examples of surround in a Sentence

A wall surrounds the old city.
They had the suspect surrounded.
She was suddenly surrounded by a crowd of excited fans.
There's a lot of uncertainty surrounding the decision.
His departure was surrounded by secrecy.

Recent Examples of surround from the Web

A Sefer Torah was recently celebrated with joy and enthusiasm at a ceremony at Beit David Highland Lakes Shul in Aventura and at a parade around the surrounding neighborhood.

— sergio carmona, Jewish Journal, "Aventura shul celebrates new CommUNITY Torah," 30 Aug. 2017
Walking through the hallways, occasionally pausing to greet students, Principal Andrew O'Brien acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the state budget but said all faculty, staff and administrators remain committed to students.

— jordan otero sisson, courant.com, "Greater Hartford Schools Open Doors To Students On Wednesday," 30 Aug. 2017
Trump also has surrounded himself with a team of advisers who are longstanding supporters of settlements.

— Bloomberg.com, "Israeli Leader's Settlement Vow Complicates Trump's Task," 29 Aug. 2017
Flood waters are rising in Houston after Hurricane Harvey slammed the city and surrounding areas.

— brittney mcnamara, Teen Vogue, "Internet Uses Memes to Shut down Sexist Hurricane Harvey Tweet," 29 Aug. 2017
Texas Rangers outfielder Delino DeShields is urging Rangers and Astros fans to stop sniping at each another over the events surrounding the club’s series this week.

— stefan stevenson, star-telegram, "Delino DeShields pleads with Rangers, Astros fans to quit sniping," 29 Aug. 2017
When the place opened in 1956—the original name was Otomi—the surrounding few blocks were an Eastside Sawtelle, a Japanese American enclave abuzz with grocery stores, churches, temples, social clubs, and restaurants.

— patric kuh, Los Angeles Magazine, "The Last Bento-Ya in Boyle Heights Transports Diners to the Neighborhood’s Past," 25 Aug. 2017
With an abundance of think pieces surrounding the Kim/Kanye fiasco, at this point, the world caught on to Swift's immaculate image control.

— rachel nussbaum, Glamour, "Taylor Swift's New Album Signals a Dark, Powerful Style She's Never Shown Before," 24 Aug. 2017
As totality blanketed Gallatin, Tennessee, just north of Nashville, and the strange twilight hue from the almost-full eclipse dimmed to darkness, a chorus of cicadas erupted from the surrounding forest.

— jay bennett, Popular Mechanics, "The Cosmic Weirdness of Solar Eclipse Totality," 21 Aug. 2017

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

Origin and Etymology of surround

Middle English, to flood, inundate, from Anglo-French surunder, from Late Latin superundare, to overflow, from Latin super- + unda wave; influenced in meaning by ⁵round — more at water

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1616

See Words from the same year

surround Synonyms

Synonyms

circle, compass, embrace, encircle, enclose (also inclose), encompass, environ, gird, girdle, ring, wreathe

Related Words

circumscribe, close in, cordon (off), fence (in), hem (in), wall; beset, besiege, entrench (also intrench), invest, swarm

surround

noun

Definition of surround

:something (such as a border or ambient environment) that surrounds

from urban centre to rural surround
—Emrys Jones

See surround defined for English-language learners

Examples of surround in a Sentence

the vast, featureless surround of the desert was strangely appealing to him

Recent Examples of surround from the Web

A popular way to pass the days was to go for a swim in the pool, located so low in the ship that submerging your ears during a dip meant having a clear, stereo surround-sound listen to the churning of propellers.

— cynthia drescher, CNT, "What It's Really Like to Cruise to the North Pole," 31 July 2017
The DVD includes a surround-sound mix of Core and the original music videos.

— anna gaca, Billboard, "Stone Temple Pilots' 'Core' 25th Anniversary Reissue Has Vinyl, DVD," 26 July 2017
The biggest problem is that Ubisoft didn't balance this series of repetitive sounds for surround sound systems.

— sam machkovech, Ars Technica, "Ubisoft wishes Watch Dogs 2 players a terrible Fourth of July [Updated]," 4 July 2017
A lower-level family floor has separate bunkroom suites for girls and boys, a game room and winter patios that include an outdoor kitchen and multiple outdoor televisions with a 7.1 surround-sound outdoor system.

— bill hanna, star-telegram, "Want a hot lake property? Possum Kingdom home will set you back a cool $7 million," 30 June 2017
For a modern look, choose large, rectangular tiles for shower surrounds and the floor.

— jennifer adams, Philly.com, "Ask Jennifer Adams: How to mix metal finishes," 23 June 2017
Isaiah was born in Eugene in 1998 and spent the first 11 years of his life in Oregon, growing up surround by all the green the Willamette Valley has to offer.

— tim brown, OregonLive.com, "Isaiah Hartenstein goes from Eugene to the NBA after being drafted by Houston Rockets," 22 June 2017
The AE-5 supports 5.1 analog surround audio, but Creative Labs knows the vast majority of gamers use headphones these days.

— gordon mah ung, PCWorld, "Hands-on: Creative Labs' Sound BlasterX AE-5 ups the audio for gamers," 12 June 2017
DTS Headphone:X is software that lets the headset reproduce the surround sound acoustics of a space.

— gieson cacho, The Mercury News, "Logitech G433 headset has style to go along with substance," 10 June 2017

First Known Use of surround

1893

surround Synonyms

Synonyms

ambient, atmosphere, climate, clime, context, contexture, environs, medium, milieu, mise-en-scène, setting, environment, surroundings, terrain

Related Words

location, place, position, space; backdrop, background; element; situation, status; geography, habitat; microenvironment

SURROUND Defined for English Language Learners

surround

play

verb

Definition of surround for English Language Learners

: to be on every side of (someone or something)
: to move close to (someone or something) on all sides often in order to stop a person from escaping
: to be closely related or connected to (something)

surround

noun

Definition of surround for English Language Learners

: a border or an area that is around the outside edge of something

SURROUND Defined for Kids

surround

play

verb sur·round \ sə-ˈrau̇nd \

Definition of surround for Students

surrounded; surrounding

1 :to enclose on all sides :encircle

A fence surrounds the property.

2 :to be closely related or connected to

… my actions will help to dispel this terrible myth of evil that seems to surround rats everywhere.
—Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

Word Root of surround

The Latin word unda, meaning “wave,” gives us the root und. Words from the Latin unda have something to do with waves. To undulate is to move up and down like a wave. To inundate is to cover with a flood of waves. To surround, or encircle on all sides, is to enclose as if by waves. To abound is to be plentiful, like waves in the ocean.