encompass

• incompass (archaic)

From Middle English encompassen. By surface analysis, en- +‎ compass.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkʌmpəs/, /ən-/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkʌmpəs/, /-ˈkɑmpəs/, /ɛn-/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkampəs/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: en‧com‧pass

encompass (third-person singular simple present encompasses, present participle encompassing, simple past and past participle encompassed)

1. (transitive) To form a circle around; to encircle.
2. (transitive) To include within its scope; to circumscribe or go round so as to surround; to enclose; to contain.

   Synonym: embrace

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene i:

     his piercing inſtruments of ſight:
     Whose fiery circles beare encompaſſed
     A heauen of heauenly bodies in their Spheares:

   • 1994, Richard Mowery Andrews, Law, Magistracy, and Crime in Old Regime Paris, page 551:

     Those trajectories encompassed absolute social extremes: the kings of France making their solemn entries into Paris through the Ludovician Arch of the Porte [...]

   • 2017, Paul B. Stretesky, Michael J. Lynch, Radical and Marxist Theories of Crime:

     In order to address the systematic, processual character of interpersonal interactions — the larger mosaic of micro-level patterns — we must postulate subapparent but encompassing structures of social activity.

   • 2020 March 6, Catherine Opie, “Catherine Opie: ‘Beauty has to encompass more about the human condition’”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Beauty is complicated; it’s an individual response to how we live our lives – but it can also encompass kindness and compassion.

   • 2024 October 3, CARY, “Spooktober: The Horror that Surrounds”, in VIRTUAL BASTION‎^[2]:

     In developing a new theme for this year’s rounds of Spooktober posts, we decided to look beyond the realm of strictly horror games to cover a topic that we hadn’t touched on before, one that encompasses games generally and allows for a little “outside the box” thinking. Our Spooktober theme this year is “The Horror that Surrounds.”

3. (transitive) To include completely; to describe fully or comprehensively.

   Synonym: (now rare) comprehend

   This book on English grammar encompasses all irregular verbs.

4. (transitive) To go around, especially, to circumnavigate.

   Drake encompassed the globe.

• encompassment

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “encompass”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “encompass”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.