surrounding

surrounding — adjective

1. describing the places, buildings, or land that are close to or all around a part

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

describing the places, buildings, or land that are close to or all around a particular location

Example

Aylin checked the surrounding streets before deciding it was safe to walk home alone.

surrounding + noun (streets/area/buildings)

The earthquake damaged several surrounding buildings, but the main house was unharmed.

Common collocations
  • surrounding area
  • surrounding buildings
  • surrounding countryside
  • surrounding villages
  • surrounding streets
  • surrounding land
  • surrounding neighbourhoods
Synonyms
  • nearby

    more common in everyday speech; implies closeness but not necessarily on all sides

  • neighbouring

    suggests things that are next to each other, often of the same type (e.g. neighbouring countries)

Antonyms
  • distant

    far away from a particular place

  • remote

    far from towns or cities; isolated

Grammar Patterns

surrounding + noun

Usage Note

Used only before a noun (attributive position). It cannot be used after a linking verb: correct usage is 'the surrounding area', not 'the area is surrounding'.

Common Mistakes

The houses surrounding are old.
The surrounding houses are old.
'surrounding' must come directly before the noun it describes; it is not used predicatively.

Word family

Common collocations

Nouns

  • area
  • buildings
  • countryside
  • villages
  • streets
  • land
  • neighbourhoods
  • rooms
  • towns

Adverbs

  • immediately surrounding
  • directly surrounding