Definitions

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

  • transitive verb To establish the limits or boundaries of; demarcate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To mark or fix the limits or boundaries of; bound.

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

  • transitive verb To fix the limits of; to demarcate; to bound.

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

  • verb transitive To mark or fix the limits of.
  • verb transitive To demarcate.

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

  • verb set, mark, or draw the boundaries of something
  • verb determine the essential quality of
  • verb be opposite to; of angles and sides, in geometry

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French délimiter, from Latin dēlīmitāre : dē-, de- + līmitāre, to limit (from līmes, līmit-, boundary line).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French délimiter, from Late Latin delimitare ("to mark out the limits"), from de- + limitare ("to limit, bound"); see limit.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Very interesting word; I have no idea how I'd use it in a sentence.

    "The angle is delimit the side of the triangle."? "Please delimit the boundaries of the country."?

    I have a feeling that's not right. :P

    February 2, 2009

  • The suburb of Puckerup is delimited by Lovers Lane on its eastern boundary, Resuscitation Square to the west, Osculation Industrial Zone on its southern approach and the Straits of EBV Infectious Mononucleosis at its northern extent.

    February 2, 2009

  • Ah, I see. So something like "Scotland is delimited by England on its southern boarder" would be more appropriate, I suppose?

    February 2, 2009