Circumscribe
['sɜːkəmskraɪb] or [,sɝkəm'sraɪb]
Definition
(verb.) draw a line around; 'He drew a circle around the points'.
(verb.) to draw a geometric figure around another figure so that the two are in contact but do not intersect.
Typist: Perry--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) to write or engrave around.
(v. t.) To inclose within a certain limit; to hem in; to surround; to bound; to confine; to restrain.
(v. t.) To draw a line around so as to touch at certain points without cutting. See Inscribe, 5.
Typist: Meg
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Bound, encircle, surround, enclose, confine, restrict, limit, keep within bounds.
Checked by Curtis
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Define, designate, delineate, limit, enclose, confine, restrict, fence
ANT:Expand, dilate, dissipate, disenclose, distend
Inputed by Annie
Definition
v.t. to draw a line round: to enclose within certain limits to curtail abridge.—adj. Circumscrib′able able to be circumscribed.—ns. Circumscrib′er one who circumscribes; Circumscrip′tion limitation: the line that limits: a circumscribed place.—adj. Circumscrip′tive marking the external form or outline.
Typed by Geraldine
Examples
- Civilization held nothing like this in its narrow and circumscribed sphere, hemmed in by restrictions and conventionalities. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- It is no sandy plain, nor any circumscribed and scant oasis I seem to realize. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Bell was undoubtedly the first inventor of the art of transmitting speech over an electric circuit, but, with his particular form of telephone, the field was circumscribed. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Even highly educated men had the most circumscribed ideas of geography and foreign countries. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- This was no actual world, it was the dream-world of one's childhood--a great circumscribed reminiscence. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- It was as unreal, and circumscribed, as a magic-lantern show. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- No, it ain't that,' said Sam, '“circumscribed”; that's it. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
Inputed by Errol