Surrounding compass points brought in (7)
I believe the answer is:
ambient
'surrounding' is the definition.
('ambient' can be a synonym of 'surrounding')
'compass points brought in' is the wordplay.
'compass' becomes 'ambit' ('ambit' can be a synonym of 'compass').
'points' becomes 'en'.
'brought in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'ambit' going around 'en' is 'AMBIENT'.
(Other definitions for ambient that I've seen before include "Circulating" , "Related to the immediate surroundings" , "Surrounding or enveloping, say temperature" , "Relating to the immediate environment" , "Surrounding, on all sides - light or temperature" .)