1
as in wrapping
to surround or cover closely
darkness began to enfold the lonely house on the hill
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in hugging
to put one's arms around and press tightly
the winner enfolded the huge bouquet of roses in her arms and thanked the judges
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Recent Examples of enfolding
Some may find this a bit too fine-grained, overly implicated in language’s self-enfolding folds.
—
Katie Kadue, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
Katie Kadue, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enfolding
Verb
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One student was up on a ladder wrapping a Tyvek moisture barrier around the exterior.—
Emma Green,
New Yorker,
17 Apr. 2026
-
Barefoot Caribou Hair Tools Travel Bag No more wrapping your curling iron in a towel and hoping for the best.—
Chaise Sanders,
Travel + Leisure,
15 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Lavender juxtaposed with ambroxan makes this scent read as fresh, with musk and beachside woods ground it into a skin-hugging base.—
Kiana Murden,
Vogue,
16 Apr. 2026
-
The photos appear to show Russini and Vrabel holding hands, hugging and sitting a hot tub and a swimming pool.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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As Bastian reads, a boy named Atreyu (Noah Hathaway), while pursued by a green-eyed creature called G’mork (Alan Oppenheimer), is dispatched by the Childlike Empress (Tami Stronach) to find the cure for the mysterious nothingness enveloping the kingdom.—
David Faris,
TheWeek,
16 Apr. 2026
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A little girl covered head to toe in an all-enveloping cloak furiously peddles a bicycle.—
Jane Arraf,
NPR,
11 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The june bug falls to the bottom of the bag but manages to recover from a new round of kicking by clasping to a leaf.—
María Ospina,
The Dial,
31 Mar. 2026
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Others showed baby Spero clasping his tiny hand around Graham's finger and slumbering with a smile on his face.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
13 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Advertisement Israel has bombed oil depots in Tehran, shrouding the city in toxic black smoke, and attacked Iran’s South Pars gas field.—
Miranda Jeyaretnam,
Time,
1 Apr. 2026
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Then venetian blinds shrouding the box slowly rose to reveal glass walls and, inside them, a sinister diorama—a replica of RTLM, or Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, the radio station that fuelled the catastrophe.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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On top lies the picotage technique as well as a pattern of overlapping black circles, that is both enclosing and creating space while also keeping out.—
Noelle Alviz-Gransee
March 6,
Kansas City Star,
6 Mar. 2026
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Buyers at Gatherpoint can personalize their homes to their preferences with options for extending patios, lanais and garages, enclosing flex rooms and expanding indoor-outdoor connections with pocketing or zero-corner sliding glass doors.—
Pulte Homes,
Miami Herald,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The Magic weren’t supposed to be here, clinging to survival in the play-in tournament.—
Mike Bianchi,
The Orlando Sentinel,
16 Apr. 2026
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On the walk back to the inn, Henry veered off the trail to pick up a fallen branch, gray and forked with one crisp leaf clinging obstinately on.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The concrete cap of a tomb encasing radioactive fallout now has cracks, and what’s beneath can rise from the dead.—
Devika Rao,
TheWeek,
31 Mar. 2026
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The crunchy encasing pairs perfectly with the melty cheese and various fillings inside, including cheese, tinga, potato and chorizo, and raja (strips of peppers and onions).—
Carolyn Burt,
Oc Register,
26 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Enfolding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enfolding. Accessed 22 Apr. 2026.
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