encapsulate

English

WOTD – 15 June 2012

Alternative forms

Etymology

From en- + capsule + -ate.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪnˈkæps(j)ʊˌleɪt/
  • (file)

Verb

encapsulate (third-person singular simple present encapsulates, present participle encapsulating, simple past and past participle encapsulated)

  1. (transitive) To enclose something as if in a capsule.
    • 2014 Feb. 9, Matthew L. Wald, "Nuclear Waste Solution Seen in Desert Salt Beds," New York Times (retrieved 14 June 2014):
      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.
  2. (transitive) To epitomize something by expressing it as a brief summary.
    • 2014 January 21, Hermione Hoby, “Julia Roberts interview for August”, in The Daily Telegraph (UK):
      It's a little moment that seems to encapsulate her appeal ...
  3. (software, object-oriented programming) To enclose objects in a common interface in a way that makes them interchangeable, and guards their states from invalid changes.
  4. (networking) To enclose data in packets that can be transmitted using a given protocol.

Derived terms

Translations

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