ENGLISH
REFERENCE

surrounding

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford US //sɝˈaʊndɪŋ// UK //səɹˈaʊndɪŋ// sur·round·ing General-service

v. to be all around something or someone on every side. You use this when you want to describe things that circle a central point.

v. to be present on all sides of something; to encircle or encompass. Transitive — requires a direct object representing the entity being enclosed.


SIMPLE

Tall trees are surrounding the small house.

CONTEXTUAL

The police are surrounding the building to prevent anyone from leaving through the back exits.

COMPLEX

A dense fog began surrounding the mountain peak, obscuring the hikers' view of the valley below and forcing them to halt their descent.

Synonyms
Usage

The verb is transitive and takes a direct object. Often used in the progressive form to describe a physical state.

Pitfall

The fence is surrounding to the gardenThe fence is surrounding the gardenSurround is a transitive verb and does not take the preposition 'to' before its object.

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