1
as in to circle
to travel completely around
communication satellites encircling the earth
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2
as in to surround
to form a circle around
immediately after announcing their engagement, the couple was encircled by their applauding friends
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of encircle
By Tuesday afternoon, the fire crew successfully encircled the entire perimeter of the fire in control lines.
—
Ca Wildfire Bot, Sacbee.com, 14 Oct. 2025
Officials and executives fitted themselves around a long conference room table in a government building, while reporters and camera operators encircled them.
—Samanth Subramanian, The Dial, 14 Oct. 2025
The pot should be about 1 or 2 inches larger in diameter than the monstera’s root ball, and the plant should be moved to a larger pot when the roots emerge from the drainage holes or encircle the inside of the pot.
—Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 12 Oct. 2025
The company’s home base of France leads with 23 three-key properties, including Parisian château Saint James Paris, which is encircled by lush gardens, and Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle, located on the grounds of Versailles.
—Rachel Chang, AFAR Media, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for encircle
Ca Wildfire Bot, Sacbee.com, 14 Oct. 2025
Officials and executives fitted themselves around a long conference room table in a government building, while reporters and camera operators encircled them.
—Samanth Subramanian, The Dial, 14 Oct. 2025
The pot should be about 1 or 2 inches larger in diameter than the monstera’s root ball, and the plant should be moved to a larger pot when the roots emerge from the drainage holes or encircle the inside of the pot.
—Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 12 Oct. 2025
The company’s home base of France leads with 23 three-key properties, including Parisian château Saint James Paris, which is encircled by lush gardens, and Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle, located on the grounds of Versailles.
—Rachel Chang, AFAR Media, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for encircle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for encircle
Verb
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Just before the robbery, the Jeep, which didn’t have a license plate, had circled the bank.—
Nathan Pilling,
Kansas City Star,
28 Oct. 2025
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Skinner also gave his TikTok followers a full 360° view of their Zootopia costumes with a video of them dancing in Times Square as a camera circled them.—
Zoey Lyttle,
PEOPLE,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The result is a geomagnetic storm that amplifies the ionospheric and radio disruptions caused by flares and saturates the radiation belts surrounding Earth to such an extent that new belts can suddenly form.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Oct. 2025
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Air raid alerts were in place in Kyiv and surrounding districts for around an hour and a half before the air force called them off shortly after midnight on Sunday.—
Laura Sharman,
CNN Money,
26 Oct. 2025
Verb
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While checking candy for tampering is important, government agencies and children's advocacy organizations concentrate more energy on other safety concerns while getting ready for Halloween night, including smart costume decisions and how to wisely traverse the streets.—
Greta Cross,
USA Today,
29 Oct. 2025
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Not only is the light spooky, but the three-hour tour traverses large rooms where the tuberculosis clinic was housed.—
Graham Averill,
Outside,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
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While most satellite internet services operate from single geostationary satellites orbiting Earth at about 22,236 miles, Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that operate from a low-Earth orbit, about 341 miles up.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
28 Oct. 2025
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Everything within the solar wind is inside the Sun’s extended atmosphere, known as the heliosphere, which means that, in a sense, Earth orbits through the Sun itself.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Encircle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/encircle. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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