Definition of "encirclement"

encirclement

noun
countable and uncountable, plural encirclements
1. The act of encircling or the state of being encircled
2. (military) The isolation of a target by the formation of a blockade around it
  Quotations
  Not only did it give the Russians an abiding fear of encirclement, whether by nomadic hordes or by nuclear-missile sites, but it also launched them on their relentless drive eastwards and southwards into Asia, and eventually collision with the British in India.
  1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 9