encompass

Completeness is the point here. Nothing in the subject is left out, as when a grammar covers every irregular verb. An older word for the same idea is comprehend, which is archaic in this meaning. The scope sense says that something falls within the bounds. This one says that the bounds leave nothing outside, which is why it pairs naturally with all, every and fully.

The bridge from physical enclosure to abstract scope. In Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great (c. 1587–1588), fiery circles still encompass the heavenly spheres. Modern writers turn the verb to range instead: trajectories that encompass social extremes, or beauty that can encompass kindness and compassion. The present participle also works as an adjective, as in encompassing structures. Embrace serves as a near synonym in the abstract use.

The literal ring at the root of every other use: Middle English encompassen, which breaks down into en- plus compass, pictures putting something inside a circle. Here the circle is physical and stationary, like stones around a mound or troops around a camp. Encircle is its closest everyday equivalent. When the circle is traced by travel rather than formed by position, the word moves into the circumnavigating sense.

Here travel, not position, draws the circle: Drake encompassed the globe by sailing all the way round it. In the encircling sense, the ring simply stands around its object. In this sense, someone moves along the whole perimeter. Its natural objects are large bodies such as the globe or a continent, and circumnavigate is the more technical word for the seafaring case.