girdling

verb

present participle of girdle
1
as in wrapping
to encircle or bind with or as if with a belt trees girdled the campus, essentially hiding it from view wire girdling the bundle of firewood

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in circling
to travel completely around an asteroid belt that girdles the inner planets of the solar system

Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in surrounding
to form a circle around the rings that famously girdle the planet Saturn

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of girdling Also, the rootball should be inspected for circling or girdling roots. — Larry Figart, Florida Times-Union, 14 Jan. 2026 Removing this layer restricts the tree from moving water up from the roots or nutrients back down, a process known as girdling. — Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 3 Nov. 2025 The new levee begins at the city of San Mateo’s border and runs below the San Mateo Bridge before girdling the city’s borders. — John King, San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Nov. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for girdling
  1. wrapping
  2. circling
  3. surrounding
  4. traversing
  5. encircling
  6. orbiting
Verb
  • The visual essay below features virtuoso examples of the techniques that designers have used to replicate the ideals of classical dress over the years, including draping, pleating, twisting, and wrapping.
    — Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 16 July 2026
  • In the twenty-tens, the mobile-app marketplace began wrapping its prehensile tail around kids’ sports and school activities.
    — Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 16 July 2026
Definition of wrapping
Verb
  • Apollo Global Management is reportedly circling a roughly $3 billion investment tied to the Steinbrenner family’s holding company, which controls the Yankees along with minority stakes in AC Milan, New York City FC, and Legends Hospitality.
    — Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 17 July 2026
  • Earlier this morning in New York’s always-buzzing Meatpacking District, a long queue of young, cool folks could be seen lining up along 14th street—circling the block from 10th avenue all the way to 9th.
    — Christian Allaire, Vogue, 16 July 2026
Definition of circling
Verb
  • Even the amount of surrounding pavement, neighboring structures, and roof color can influence how much heat the house gains throughout the day.
    — Timothy Dale, The Spruce, 17 July 2026
  • According to Artem, the Russian position consisted of soldiers armed with small arms and radios and supported by a network of observation posts monitoring the surrounding approaches.
    — Vikram Mittal, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026
Definition of surrounding
Verb
  • There was no zigzagging across the continent, traversing borders or altitude concerns.
    — Adam Crafton, New York Times, 16 July 2026
  • Mulching can also create barriers that ivy will have difficulty traversing.
    — Samantha Johnson, Martha Stewart, 15 July 2026
Definition of traversing
Verb
  • Cheers roared from the crowd encircling the concrete arena as two skateboarders slammed into each other at top speed.
    — Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 25 June 2026
  • Styled by Brad Goreski, Moore wore a custom cobalt blue Self Portrait gown with an oversized bow encircling the hips, falling into a train.
    — Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 22 May 2026
Definition of encircling
Verb
  • And typically, the extreme radiation around these stars totally strips the atmospheres from the planets orbiting them, so astronomers have wondered if planets orbiting these stars can have an atmosphere at all.
    — Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 16 July 2026
  • But a study in Wednesday’s issue of Nature describes observations of helium being lost from the atmosphere of an exoplanet orbiting the star LHS 1140, about 50 light-years away.
    — John Timmer, ArsTechnica, 16 July 2026
Definition of orbiting

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girdles
girdling
girds
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Cite this Entry

“Girdling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/girdling. Accessed 19 Jul. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of girdling for Spanish Speakers

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