limitation

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of limiting or the state of being limited.
• noun A limiting rule or condition; a restriction.
• noun A shortcoming or defect.
• noun Law A period established by statute during which a lawsuit or criminal prosecution must be initiated.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of bounding or circumscribing; the fixing of a limit or restriction.
• noun The condition of being limited, bounded, or circumscribed; restriction.
• noun An opposing limit or bound; a fixed or prescribed restriction; a restraining condition, defining circumstance, or qualifying conception: as, limitations of thought.
• noun That to which one is limited; that which is required as a condition.
• noun In law: The period of time prescribed by law after which an action cannot be brought. Since the investigation of controversies becomes more difficult with the lapse of time, and long delay to sue may imply either that satisfaction has been received or that all claim is abandoned, and as it is vexatious to revive stale claims, the law allows fixed periods, varying with the nature of the grievance, within which, if at all, a claimant must apply to the courts.
• noun In the law of conveyancing, the carving out of an estate less than a fee simple absolute (see fee); the prescribing of an ulterior direction for the devolution of an estate in case the estate of the primary grantee shall fail.
• noun The particular district in which a limiter or begging friar was allowed to beg for alms.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of limiting; the state or condition of being limited.
• noun That which limits; a restriction; a qualification; a restraining condition, defining circumstance, or qualifying conception.
• noun A certain precinct within which friars were allowed to beg, or exercise their functions; also, the time during which they were permitted to exercise their functions in such a district.
• noun A limited time within or during which something is to be done.
• noun A certain period limited by statute after which the claimant shall not enforce his claims by suit.
• noun A settling of an estate or property by specific rules.
• noun A restriction of power.
• noun to know the reach and limits of one's abilities.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The act of limiting or the state of being limited.
• noun A restriction; a boundary, real or metaphorical, caused by some thing or some circumstance.
• noun An imperfection or shortcoming which limits somethings use or value.
• noun A time period after which some legal action may no longer be brought.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the quality of being limited or restricted
• noun (law) a time period after which suits cannot be brought
• noun the greatest amount of something that is possible or allowed
• noun a principle that limits the extent of something
• noun an act of limiting or restricting (as by regulation)