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Surround vs Embrace - What's the difference?

surround | embrace |

As verbs the difference between surround and embrace

is that surround is (label) to encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions while embrace is to clasp in the arms with affection; to take in the arms; to hug.

As nouns the difference between surround and embrace

is that surround is (british) anything, such as a fence or border, that surrounds something while embrace is hug (noun); putting arms around someone.

surround

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (label) To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1944, author=(w)
  • , title= The Three Corpse Trick, chapter=5 , passage=The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=3 citation , passage=Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.}}
  • * 2005 , (Plato), Sophist . Translation by Lesley Brown. .
  • and this way they get rid of those grand and stubborn opinions that surround them.
  • (label) To enclose or confine something on all sides so as to prevent escape.
  • To pass around; to travel about; to circumnavigate.
  • (Fuller)

    Synonyms

    *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (British) Anything, such as a fence or border, that surrounds something.
  • * 1972 , 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

    embrace

    English

    Alternative forms

    * imbrace (obsolete)

    Verb

    (embrac)
  • To clasp in the arms with affection; to take in the arms; to hug.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I will embrace him with a soldier's arm, / That he shall shrink under my courtesy.
  • * Bible, Acts xx. 1
  • Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them.
  • (obsolete) To cling to; to cherish; to love.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • To seize eagerly, or with alacrity; to accept with cordiality; to welcome.
  • I wholeheartedly embrace the new legislation.
  • * Shakespeare
  • You embrace the occasion.
  • * John Locke
  • What is there that he may not embrace for truth?
  • To accept; to undergo; to submit to.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I embrace this fortune patiently.
  • To encircle; to encompass; to enclose.
  • * Dryden
  • Not that my song, in such a scanty space, / So large a subject fully can embrace .
  • * Denham
  • Low at his feet a spacious plain is placed, / Between the mountain and the stream embraced .
  • To enfold, to include (ideas, principles, etc.); to encompass.
  • Natural philosophy embraces many sciences.
  • To fasten on, as armour.
  • (Spenser)
  • (legal) To attempt to influence (a jury, court, etc.) corruptly.
  • (Blackstone)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Hug (noun); putting arms around someone.
  • *
  • *:a delighted shout from the children swung him toward the door again. His sister, Mrs. Gerard, stood there in carriage gown and sables, radiant with surprise. ¶ "Phil!  You!   Exactly like you, Philip, to come strolling in from the antipodes—dear fellow!" recovering from the fraternal embrace and holding both lapels of his coat in her gloved hands.
  • (metaphorical) Enfolding, including.