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surrounded

verb

past tense of surround
as in encircled
to form a circle around she was surrounded by cheering fans within moments of scoring the winning goal

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 surrounded Lenin and Trotsky believed that their Bolshevik Revolution would succeed only when the Soviet Union was surrounded by other Communist states. — Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2026 Leary said that once the riders were surrounded on the bridge, police took them into custody without incident. — Assistant Editor, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2026 Rather than chart her full life, the Hindi-language film, starring Sneha Kumari in the title role, isolates a single 48-hour standoff in which 2,000 armed police and paramilitary personnel surrounded a village to capture her, then 17 years old. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 14 Sep. 2026 Three seconds later, I was surrounded by hideous monsters who were probably nice kids before the local NBC news devoted the feature story on their prime-time show Weekend to an in-depth study of English punk. — Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026 Members of Skokie’s Fire Department, along with police officers, emergency service operators and public safety staff participated in an honor guard procession Friday, surrounded by dozens of local residents. — Claire Murphy, Chicago Tribune, 11 Sep. 2026 Like Snow White, she is surrounded by woodland creatures — rabbits, badgers even a deer — all frozen in time. — Damon Wise, Deadline, 11 Sep. 2026 In Vegas, Dorofeyev was surrounded by the likes of Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Mark Stone and Tomas Hertl. — Mark Lazerus, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026 The piny woods swallowed the red bricks surrounded by spirals of razor wire and fence. — Literary Hub, 9 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surrounded
  1. encircled
  2. circled
  3. encompassed
  4. ringed
  5. embraced
Verb
  • The soccer ball, muddy from outside, is encircled in one arm.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Instead of gold watches, silver handcuffs encircled their wrists.
    — Jonny Hallam, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of encircled
Verb
  • In layman's terms, you are being paid to take the unlock that everyone already circled.
    — Jeff Kilburg, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2026
  • The jumpship circled the fire while the spotter—a smokejumper who oversees the mission from the air—leaned out the door to assess it.
    — M. R. O’Connor, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of circled
Verb
  • His career has encompassed more than four decades, including four EuroLeague titles, with Virtus Bologna in 1998 and 2001 and CSKA Moscow in 2006 and 2008.
    — AJC Sports, AJC.com, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Edu’s position at Forest had also encompassed the other clubs across the football empire of owner and Greek shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis, namely Greek side Olympiacos and Portuguese outfit Rio Ave.
    — Colin Millar, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of encompassed
Verb
  • If your glasses always come out of the dishwasher looking cloudy or your faucets are ringed with white residue, hard water could be the reason.
    — Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Standard galactic black holes are ringed by a thick doughnut of gas and dust, which can block most X-rays.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of ringed
Verb
  • But its vision of the city, a space that seems impossible to hold in your head but can be overcome and even embraced, feels incredibly emotionally accurate.
    — Jordan Minor, PC Magazine, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Moore’s parents have embraced the talk of what could be ahead.
    — Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of embraced

Browse Nearby Words

surround
surrounded
surrounding
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Cite this Entry

“Surrounded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surrounded. Accessed 20 Sep. 2026.

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