surrounded

sur·round  (s-round)

tr.v. sur·round·ed, sur·round·ing, sur·rounds

1. To extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle.

2. To enclose or confine on all sides so as to bar escape or outside communication.

n.

1. Something, such as fencing or a border, that surrounds: a fireplace surround.

2.

a. The area around a thing or place: inflammation extending to the surround of the eye.

b. Surroundings; environment: "It was the country, the flat agricultural surround, that so ravished me" (Listener).

3. A method of hunting wild animals by surrounding them and driving them to a place from which they cannot escape.

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[Middle English surrounden, to inundate, from Old French suronder, from Late Latin superundre : Latin super-, super- + Latin undre, to rise in waves (from unda, wave; see wed-¹ in Indo-European roots).]

Synonyms: surround, circle, compass, encircle, encompass, environ, gird¹, girdle, ring¹
These verbs mean to lie around and bound on all sides: Suburbs surround the city. A crown circled the king's head. Fog compassed the mountain peak. A belt encircled her waist. A lake encompassed the island. The desert environed the oases. A deep moat girds the castle. Flower gardens girdled the bird bath. Guests ringed the coffee table.

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surrounded

• involve - First meant "enfold, surround, wrap."
• enclave, exclave - An enclave is a group or area different from the surroundings, a secured area within another secured area, from Latin clavis, "key"; an exclave is the same thing, but usually describes a portion of a country separated from the main part and surrounded by politically alien territory.
• woebegone - Begone in woebegone means "beset" or "surrounded," so the word means "beset by woe."
• glade - Originally referred to a part of water not frozen over, but surrounded by ice, drawing an analogy to the same word for an opening in the woods.

Thesaurus

Adj.

1.

surrounded - confined on all sides; "a camp surrounded by enemies"; "the encircled pioneers" encircled enclosed - closed in or surrounded or included within; "an enclosed porch"; "an enclosed yard"; "the enclosed check is to cover shipping and handling"