different between surroundings vs surround

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s???a?nd??z/
• Hyphenation: sur?round?ings

Noun

surroundings

1. plural of surrounding

Noun

surroundings pl (plural only)

1. The area surrounding someone or something, together with the objects and circumstances in the vicinity; the environment or ambiance.
2. (physics) All parts of the universe that are not within the thermodynamic system of interest.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English sourrounden (“to submerge, overflow”), from Middle French souronder, suronder, from Late Latin superund?, from super + und? (“to rise in waves”), from unda (“wave”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s???a?nd/
• Rhymes: -a?nd
• Hyphenation: sur?round

Verb

surround (third-person singular simple present surrounds, present participle surrounding, simple past and past participle surrounded)

1. (transitive) To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions.
   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 230c.

     and this way they get rid of those grand and stubborn opinions that surround them.

2. (transitive) To enclose or confine something on all sides so as to prevent escape.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To pass around; to travel about; to circumnavigate.
   • 1650, Thomas Fuller, A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine

     the body of that worthy patriarch […] should steal into that country in a clandestine way, and privately enter in at the postern door; rather let it solemnly surround the country

Synonyms

• bebay
• beleaguer
• beset

Translations

Noun

surround (plural surrounds)

1. (Britain) Anything, such as a fence or border, that surrounds something.
   • 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.

     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 a large surround of red brick.

Derived terms

• surround sound