verb · transitive · rare

environ

en·vir·on

environ · environs · environed · environing

To encircle or surroundTo encircle or surround (someone or something).

UK/ɪnˈvaɪɹən/US/ɪnˈvaɪ(ə)ɹən/

Meaning

9 senses

(obsolete, transitive)To encircle or surround (someone or something).
extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle
To encircle or surround (someone or something).
(obsolete, often, transitive)To encircle or surround (someone or something) so as to attack from all sides; to beset.
(obsolete, transitive)To encircle or surround (a heraldic element such as a charge or escutcheon (shield)).
(obsolete, transitive)To cover, enclose, or envelop (someone or something).
(obsolete, transitive)Followed by from: to hide or shield (someone or something).
(obsolete, transitive)Of a person: to be positioned or stationed around (someone or something) to attend to or protect them.
(figuratively, obsolete, transitive)Of a situation or state of affairs, especially danger or trouble: to happen to and affect (someone or something).
(obsolete, transitive)To amount to or encompass (a space).
(obsolete, transitive)To travel completely around (a place or thing); to circumnavigate.

Origin

From Middle English envirounen, enviroun (“to surround in a circle or ring, or on the peri

From Middle English envirounen, enviroun (“to surround in a circle or ring, or on the perimeter; to beset, besiege; to cover, enclose, envelop; to provide a setting or surrounding to; to move in a circle; to move around the perimeter; to go, move, or wander about (a place); to fill or pervade (a place); to run all the way through”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman envirouner [and other forms], Middle French environner, and Old French environner (“to arrange in a circle; to circumnavigate, travel around; to traverse, wander around; to encircle, encompass, surround”) [and other forms] (modern French environner), from environ (adverb) (see etymology 1) + -er (suffix forming verbs).

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Forms

environs, environing, environed, environed

Base form	environ · to environ
3rd person singular	environs
Present participle	environing
Past simple	environed
Past participle	environed

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, they	environ
he, she, it	environs

Past simpleLesson

all persons

environed

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, they	have environed
he, she, it	has environed

Future simple (will)Lesson

all persons

will environ

Synonyms

10 synonyms

besiegeC2 belay beleaguer envelop entwist enwrap

Close in meaning

extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle:surround ring skirt border

Word family

Deriveddisenviron environer unenvironed

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle