Meanings
present singular third person encapsulates · participle present encapsulating · participle past encapsulated · past encapsulated · alternative incapsulate
- transitiveTo 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 Beds”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 12 Nov 2020, retrieved 14 Jun 2014 - transitiveTo 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 - object-oriented programmingcomputingTo enclose objects in a common interface in a way that makes them interchangeable, and guards their states from invalid changes.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbput in a short or concise form; reduce in volume
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
- Proto-Italic*en
- Proto-Italic*en-
- Latinin-
- Old Frenchen-
- Middle Englishen-
- Englishen-
- Englishcapsule
- Englishencapsulate
From en- + capsule + -ate (verb-forming suffix).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan encapsular
- encapsularto enclose as if in a capsule
Chinese Mandarin 概括, 梗概
- 概括 (gàikuò)to epitomize
- 梗概 (gěnggài)to epitomize
- 封装 (fēngzhuāng)object-oriented programming: To enclose objects in a common interface
Danish indkapsle, sammenfatte
- indkapsleto enclose as if in a capsule
- sammenfatteto epitomize
- samleto epitomize
Dutch inkapselen, inkapselen
- inkapselento enclose as if in a capsule
- inkapselenobject-oriented programming: To enclose objects in a common interface
Esperanto enkapsuligi, enkapsuligi
- enkapsuligito enclose as if in a capsule
- enkapsuligiobject-oriented programming: To enclose objects in a common interface
Finnish kapseloida, koteloida
- kapseloidato enclose as if in a capsule
- koteloidato enclose as if in a capsule
- tiivistääto epitomize
- kiteyttääto epitomize
French encapsuler, encapsuler
- encapsulerto enclose as if in a capsule
- encapsulerobject-oriented programming: To enclose objects in a common interface
German einkapseln, kapseln
- einkapselnto enclose as if in a capsule
- kapselnto enclose as if in a capsule
- verkapselnto enclose as if in a capsule
- zusammenfassento epitomize
- kapselnobject-oriented programming: To enclose objects in a common interface
- kapselnnetworking: to enclose data in packets
Icelandic hjúpa
- hjúpaobject-oriented programming: To enclose objects in a common interface
Korean 요약하다, 집약하다
- 요약하다 (yoyakhada)to epitomize
- 집약하다 (jibyakhada)to epitomize
Māori kōpaki
- kōpakito enclose as if in a capsule
Norwegian sammenfatte
- sammenfatteto epitomize
Norwegian Bokmål innkapsle, kapsle inn
- innkapsleto enclose as if in a capsule
- kapsle innto enclose as if in a capsule
Portuguese encapsular, embrulhar
- encapsularto enclose as if in a capsule
- embrulharto enclose as if in a capsule
- resumirto epitomize
- sintetizarto epitomize
- epitomizarto epitomize
Romanian încapsula, capsula
- încapsulato enclose as if in a capsule
- capsulato enclose as if in a capsule
Russian инкапсули́ровать
- инкапсули́ровать (inkapsulírovatʹ)object-oriented programming: To enclose objects in a common interface
Swedish kapsla in, inkapsla
- kapsla into enclose as if in a capsule
- inkapslato enclose as if in a capsule
- sammanfattato epitomize
Ukrainian капсулюва́ти, інкапсулюва́ти
- капсулюва́ти (kapsuljuváty)to enclose as if in a capsule
- інкапсулюва́ти (inkapsuljuváty)object-oriented programming: To enclose objects in a common interface
Cite this entry
encapsulate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/encapsulate
“encapsulate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/encapsulate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “encapsulate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/encapsulate.
Source: encapsulate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.