cercar

to surround

verb sehr-KAHR Rare

Also means

to fence in

Usage Note

Cercar means to encircle or lay siege to a place (cercar una ciudad) and also to fence off land (cercar un campo). It is a spelling-change verb: the c becomes qu before e in the preterite (cerqué). Do not confuse with acercar ('to bring closer') or cerciorar ('to make sure').

Examples

"Las tropas cercaron el castillo enemigo."

Natural Translation

The troops surrounded the enemy castle.

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