surround
Syllables: sur·round/səˈɹaʊnd/
surround verb: to encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions.
Verb
surround (third-person singular simple present surrounds, present participle surrounding, simple past and past participle surrounded)
- To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions.
- The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick
- It took a long time for the place to warm up and to counteract the cold and enable their fingers to cope with the delicate task of moulding, the men would often surround themselves with blocks of iron heated in the furnace.1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 342
- Synonyms:
- bound
- To enclose or confine something on all sides so as to prevent escape.
- The lions surrounded the deer herd so they had no way to escape.
- They surrounded each other in the classroom and started trading hits.
- To pass around; to travel about; to circumnavigate.
- to surround the world
- Unfitting it vvas, that the body of that vvorthy Patriarch [Joseph] (to vvhom all the land belonged by promiſe) ſhould ſteale into that Countrey in a clandeſtine vvay, and privately enter in at the poſtern door, rather let it ſolemnly ſurround the Countrey, and be brought in at the broad gates....1650, Thomas Fuller, “The Description of the Tribe of Benjamin”, in A Pisgah-sight of Palestine and the Confines thereof, with the History of the Old and New Testament Acted thereon, London: […] J....
Noun
surround (plural surrounds)
- Anything, such as a fence or border, that surrounds something.
- He drifted through the room, avoiding the furniture by instinct, closed the door that led to the passage, and only then flicked on his flashlight.
It swept around the room, picking out a desk, a telephone, a wall of bookshelves, and a deep armchair, and finally settled on a handsome fireplace with...1972, Frederick Forsyth, The Odessa File, Viking, SBN 670-52042-x, chapter 15, page 283
- He drifted through the room, avoiding the furniture by instinct, closed the door that led to the passage, and only then flicked on his flashlight.
surround meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
surround in Hindi
- to encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions
- घेरना ghernā
- to enclose to prevent escape
- घेरना ghernā
surround in Tamil
- சூழ்ந்து கொள், சுற்றிக் கொள், சூழ், சூழுதல்
surround in Urdu
- گھیراؤ, گھیرنا, محاصرہ کرنا, محیط کرنا
surround in Bengali
- ঘিরা, ঘেরা, পরিবেষ্টন করা, ঘিরে ফেলা, বেষ্টন করা, ব্যাপ্ত হওয়া
More languagesFewer languages
- surround in Telugu
- చుట్టుకొను cuṭṭukonu, మూగు mūgu, చుట్టు cuṭṭu, గిరికొను girikonu
- surround in Malayalam
- ചുറ്റുക cuṟṟuka, വളയുക vaḷayuka
- surround in Kannada
- ಸುತ್ತು, ಪೊರಸುತ್ತು, ಮುತ್ತು, ಬಳಸು
- surround in Odia
- ଘୋଟିବା ghoṭibā, ଛାଇବା chāibā
- surround in Sanskrit
- वेवेष्टि veveṣṭi
- surround in Assamese
- বেৰ ber, আগুৰ agur
- surround in Arabic
- أَحَاطَ ʔaḥāṭa, حَفَّ ḥaffa, طَوَّقَ ṭawwaqa
- surround in Thai
- ล้อม lɔ́ɔm, โอบล้อม, ปิดล้อม bpìt-lɔ́ɔm
- surround in Vietnamese
- bao vây
Examples of surround in a sentence
- The moons surrounding the city walls were built in the sixteenth century.
- The central figure in the painting is a young woman, surrounded by a flight of angels.
- The testa develops from the tissue, the integument, originally surrounding the ovule.
Synonyms of surround
Forms of surround
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | surrounds |
| present participle | surrounding |
| past participle | surrounded |
| past | surrounded |
| Noun | |
| plural | surrounds |
Origin of surround
From Middle English sourrounden (“to submerge, overflow”), from Middle French souronder, suronder, from Late Latin superundō, from super + undō (“to rise in waves”), from unda (“wave”).
Words formed from surround
Phrases with surround
Words that rhyme with surround
45 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- abound
- bound
- hound
- profound
- impound
- unbound
- underground
- crowned
- found
- remound
- unsound
- aground
- embrowned
- expound
- gound
- overground
- sqround
- surround sound
- unconfound
- uncrowned
- astound
- baffound
- below ground
- blound
- browned
- charging the mound
- clowned
- downed
- drowned
- found sound
- frowned
- gowned
- interwound
- lb
- newfound
- overwound
- playaround
- reground
- renowned
- rewound
- unfound
- unrenowned
- unwound
- wound
- York round
Questions about surround
- What does surround mean?
- Surround means to encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions.
- What is surround in Hindi?
- Surround in Hindi is घेरना (ghernā). See Surround meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is surround?
- Surround can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce surround?
- Surround is pronounced /səˈɹaʊnd/.
- What is the past tense of surround?
- The past tense of surround is surrounded.
Words near surround in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: surround (page history and authors); surround (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); surround (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); surround (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); గిరికొను (Telugu) (page history and authors); surround (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ଘୋଟିବା (Odia) (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-surround.ogg.
Cite this entry: “surround.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/surround. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.