Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To keep within bounds; restrict: synonym: limit.
- transitive verb To shut or keep in, especially to imprison.
- transitive verb To restrict in movement.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Bordering; having a common boundary; adjacent; contiguous.
- noun A boundary-line or limit; bound; border; precinct.
- noun That part of a territory which is at or near the border; the frontier: used generally in the plural, and often figuratively: as, the confines of France or of Scotland.
- noun Territory; region; district.
- noun An inhabitant of a contiguous district; a neighbor.
- noun A place of confinement; a prison.
- noun In geom. of n-dimensions, that which corresponds to a closed volume in three dimensions.
- To have a common boundary; border; abut; be in contact: followed by on or with.
- To restrict within bounds; limit; inclose; bound; hence, imprison; immure; shut up.
- Synonyms To bound, circumscribe, restrict, incarcerate.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb obsolete To have a common boundary; to border; to lie contiguous; to touch; -- followed by
on orwith . - transitive verb To restrain within limits; to restrict; to limit; to bound; to shut up; to inclose; to keep close.
- transitive verb to be in childbed.
- noun Common boundary; border; limit; -- used chiefly in the plural.
- noun obsolete Apartment; place of restraint; prison.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
restrict ; to keepwithin bounds ; to shut or keep in a limited space or area - noun
Limit .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb close in
- verb deprive of freedom; take into confinement
- verb restrict or confine,
- verb to close within bounds, limit or hold back from movement
- verb place limits on (extent or access)
- verb prevent from leaving or from being removed
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word confine.
Examples
-
That a man should lay down his life for his friend seems strange to vulgar affections and such as confine themselves within that worldly principle, “Charity begins at home.”
Religio Medici 2007
-
Indeed, it is nowadays oddly daring for a real artistic talent (that is, one properly attentive to considerations of language and truthfulness) to "confine" itself to this task.
New Fiction Joseph O'Neil 2005
-
Indeed, it is nowadays oddly daring for a real artistic talent (that is, one properly attentive to considerations of language and truthfulness) to "confine" itself to this task.
New Fiction Joseph O'Neil 2005
-
Friend, seems strange to vulgar affections, and such as confine themselves within that Worldly principle, Charity begins at home.
Religio Medici 1605-1682 1923
-
That a man should lay down his life for his Friend, seems strange to vulgar affections, and such as confine themselves within that Worldly principle, Charity begins at home.
The Second Part 1909
-
He is correct in the assumption that the idea is to "confine" cyclists to their lane.
-
He is every flabby inch the ramshackle roisterer, who announces the keynote of his unbuttoned, spilling-over performance in his spluttering rejection of the notion that he "confine"
The Guardian World News Susannah Clapp 2011
-
He is correct in the assumption that the idea is to "confine" cyclists to their lane.
-
Calculations were based on the primary structural frame in both cases: HabiTek's post-and-beam steel frame; and for CMC, the concrete columns and beams used to "confine" masonry.
-
I thought we were doing quite well when we managed to reduce the whole house clutter to 2 bedrooms 'worth (or was it' confine 'rather than' reduce '?) … … Either way, I appreciate you more each time I read your blog, and extend thanks that you are so willing to share your life insights and experience.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.