encompass
Syllables: en·com·passUK/ɪnˈkʌmpəs//ɪnˈkʌmpəs/
encompass verb: to form a circle around; to encircle.
Verb
encompass (third-person singular simple present encompasses, present participle encompassing, simple past and past participle encompassed)
- To form a circle around; to encircle.
- To include within its scope; to circumscribe or go round so as to surround; to enclose; to contain.
- his piercing inſtruments of ſight:
Whose fiery circles beare encompaſſed
A heauen of heauenly bodies in their Spheares:c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC... - Those trajectories encompassed absolute social extremes: the kings of France making their solemn entries into Paris through the Ludovician Arch of the Porte [...]1994, Richard Mowery Andrews, Law, Magistracy, and Crime in Old Regime Paris, page 551
- Synonyms:
- embrace
- his piercing inſtruments of ſight:
- To include completely; to describe fully or comprehensively.
- This book on English grammar encompasses all irregular verbs.
- Synonyms:
- comprehend
- To go around, especially, to circumnavigate.
- Drake encompassed the globe.
encompass meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
encompass in Tamil
- உள்ளடக்கு, சுற்றிவளை, சூழ்ந்துகொள்
encompass in Urdu
- گھیر لینا, لپیٹ لینا, شامل کرنا
encompass in Bengali
- অন্তর্ভুক্ত করা, ঘিরে ফেলা
encompass in Malayalam
- contain, have within, surround
- കൊള്ളുക, ഉൾക്കൊള്ളുക, ചൂഴുക, വലയംചെയ്യുക, ഉള്ളടക്കംചെയ്യുക, പെടുത്തുക
- embrace, cover, include
- ഉൾക്കൊള്ളുക, ഉൾക്കൊള്ളിക്കുക, ഉൾപ്പെടുത്തുക, ആശ്ശേഷിക്കുക, അന്തർഭവിച്ചിരിക്കുക, അന്തർഭവിപ്പിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- encompass in Kannada
- ಸುತ್ತು, ಒಳಗೊಳ್ಳು, ಅಳವಡಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳು, ಸುತ್ತುವರಿ
- encompass in Sanskrit
- वेवेष्टि veveṣṭi
Examples of encompass in a sentence
- Beauty is complicated; it’s an individual response to how we live our lives – but it can also encompass kindness and compassion.2020 March 6, Catherine Opie, “Catherine Opie: ‘Beauty has to encompass more about the human condition’”, in CNN:
- Mayor Andy Burnham's Bee Network already encompasses the buses and trams, and now he has his sights set on the railways.2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Will devolution deliver real local control?”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 44:
Synonyms of encompass
Forms of encompass
| third-person singular present | encompasses |
|---|---|
| present participle | encompassing |
| past participle | encompassed |
| past | encompassed |
| alternative form (archaic) | incompass |
Origin of encompass
From Middle English encompassen. By surface analysis, en- + compass.
Words formed from encompass
Questions about encompass
- What does encompass mean?
- Encompass means to form a circle around; to encircle.
- What is encompass in Tamil?
- Encompass in Tamil is உள்ளடக்கு, சுற்றிவளை, சூழ்ந்துகொள். See Encompass meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use encompass in a sentence?
- Beauty is complicated; it’s an individual response to how we live our lives – but it can also encompass kindness and compassion.
- What part of speech is encompass?
- Encompass is a verb.
- How do you pronounce encompass?
- Encompass is pronounced /ɪnˈkʌmpəs/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of encompass?
- The past tense of encompass is encompassed.
Words near encompass in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: encompass (page history and authors); encompass (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); encompass (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Encompass (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); encompass (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); encompass (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-encompass.ogg, en-au-encompass.ogg.
Cite this entry: “encompass.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/encompass. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.