encapsulate

To enclose something in, or as if in, a capsule.

Verb

  1. To enclose something in, or as if in, a capsule.
    • At a rate of six inches a year, the salt closes in on the waste and encapsulates it for what engineers say will be millions of years. - 2014 February 9, Matthew L. Wald, “Nuclear Waste Solution Seen in Desert Salt...
  2. To epitomize something by expressing it as a brief summary.
    • It's a little moment that seems to encapsulate her appeal ... - 2014 January 21, Hermione Hoby, “Julia Roberts interview for August”, in The Daily Telegraph (UK), archived from the original on 27 Apr 2021:
  3. To enclose objects in a common interface in a way that makes them interchangeable, and guards their states from invalid changes.
  4. To enclose data in packets that can be transmitted using a given protocol.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Proto-Italic *en- Latin in- Old French en-bor. Middle English en- English en- English capsule Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātuslbor. English -ate English encapsulate From en- + capsule + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Forms

encapsulates encapsulating encapsulated incapsulate

Derived

bioencapsulated coencapsulate encapsulatable encapsulation encapsulator macroencapsulate microencapsulate microencapsulated nanoencapsulate nanoencapsulated nonencapsulated overencapsulate photoencapsulate unencapsulate unencapsulated