1
as in circled
to travel completely around
communication satellites encircling the earth
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in surrounded
to form a circle around
immediately after announcing their engagement, the couple was encircled by their applauding friends
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of encircled
The latter was accompanied by the most striking choreography of the night, as a mass of humans encircled and swallowed Reznor at the end of the song, inviting him to join them in their amorphous horde.
—
Jeff Miller, Rolling Stone, 12 Apr. 2026
How to Get Around Koh Chang is almost entirely encircled by one main road, and the island doesn't have any private tuk-tuks or taxis.
—Asia London Palomba, Travel + Leisure, 11 Apr. 2026
Jack Grealish was prone on one of the tables, encircled not by medical staff but members of the club’s Down’s Syndrome team.
—Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2026
Some people lamented on social media the empty spaces around a pond that used to be seamlessly encircled by flowering pink blossoms.
—ABC News, 3 Apr. 2026
The sapphire, encircled by 14 solitaire diamonds, was designed by the famed House of Garrard.
—Jessica Gibbs, InStyle, 2 Apr. 2026
The facility, which was built inside a nuclear weapons base long known to the CIA, is encircled by three layers of security fencing.
—Tamara Qiblawi, CNN Money, 1 Apr. 2026
Instead of forming a concentric pattern around Katmai, the ash encircled Novarupta.
—Quanta Magazine, 27 Mar. 2026
Opposite the pump lies a dead body, haphazardly covered with half a sheet of cardboard and encircled by black flies.
—Elena Clavarino, Air Mail, 14 Mar. 2026
Jeff Miller, Rolling Stone, 12 Apr. 2026
How to Get Around Koh Chang is almost entirely encircled by one main road, and the island doesn't have any private tuk-tuks or taxis.
—Asia London Palomba, Travel + Leisure, 11 Apr. 2026
Jack Grealish was prone on one of the tables, encircled not by medical staff but members of the club’s Down’s Syndrome team.
—Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2026
Some people lamented on social media the empty spaces around a pond that used to be seamlessly encircled by flowering pink blossoms.
—ABC News, 3 Apr. 2026
The sapphire, encircled by 14 solitaire diamonds, was designed by the famed House of Garrard.
—Jessica Gibbs, InStyle, 2 Apr. 2026
The facility, which was built inside a nuclear weapons base long known to the CIA, is encircled by three layers of security fencing.
—Tamara Qiblawi, CNN Money, 1 Apr. 2026
Instead of forming a concentric pattern around Katmai, the ash encircled Novarupta.
—Quanta Magazine, 27 Mar. 2026
Opposite the pump lies a dead body, haphazardly covered with half a sheet of cardboard and encircled by black flies.
—Elena Clavarino, Air Mail, 14 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for encircled
Verb
-
The Ducks’ season circled the drain previously, during a nine-game plummet across December and January.—
Andrew Knoll,
Oc Register,
8 Apr. 2026
-
Monday's lunar flyby — where the astronauts circled the moon — marked the farthest humans have ever traveled into space.—
Ava Berger,
NPR,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Where the hill of Fiesole begins to climb, but still in Florence, that’s where the quiet idyll of Il Salviatino begins, a 15th-century villa surrounded by a 13-acre park just 10 minutes away from the Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore) and a 25-minute ride from the airport.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
11 Apr. 2026
-
If your lawn is surrounded by weeds, gophers may be attracted to the area, dining on the roots of the weeds on the way to your lawn.—
David Beaulieu,
The Spruce,
11 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Igra added that a friend who traversed the route months later and wound up in the jail as well also remembered the soup and had been telling her children about it for years.—
Graham Womack,
Sacbee.com,
14 Apr. 2026
-
Only 10 ships have traversed the strait in the last 24 hours.—
Jim Edwards,
Fortune,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Every element had been carefully considered, Tabitha noted, the suave austerity of the Wassily chairs orbited by antique rugs and estate-sale paintings.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Apr. 2026
-
Hydrogen atoms are the simplest nuclei, with a single proton orbited by an electron, so that’s typically what physicists have used for their experiments to measure the proton’s charge radius.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
14 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Encircled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/encircled. Accessed 17 Apr. 2026.
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