circumscribe
to draw a line around; encircle: to circumscribe a city on a map.
to enclose within bounds; limit or confine, especially narrowly: Her social activities are circumscribed by school regulations.
to mark off; define; delimit: to circumscribe the area of a science.
Geometry.
to draw (a figure) around another figure so as to touch as many points as possible.
(of a figure) to enclose (another figure) in this manner.
Origin of circumscribe
1Other words for circumscribe
Other words from circumscribe
- cir·cum·scrib·a·ble, adjective
- cir·cum·scrib·er, noun
- non·cir·cum·scribed, adjective
- un·cir·cum·scrib·a·ble, adjective
- un·cir·cum·scribed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use circumscribe in a sentence
He sets the fashions and opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a dead-line.
The Devil's Dictionary | Ambrose BierceThe melody which circumscribes itself like Giotto's O is almost as tangible a thing as a statue; it has almost contour.
Plays, Acting and Music | Arthur SymonsHe sets the fashions of opinion and taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a deadline.
The Cynic's Word Book | Ambrose BierceYet the domestic circle, in a great degree, circumscribes her influence; shuts in her character.
A Memorial of Mrs. Margaret Breckinridge | Archibald AlexanderI knew then how it frees an idea to be ignored; how apprehension circumscribes and deforms it.
Tales Of Men And Ghosts | Edith Wharton
British Dictionary definitions for circumscribe
/ (ˌsɜːkəmˈskraɪb, ˈsɜːkəmˌskraɪb) /
to restrict within limits
to mark or set the bounds of
to draw a geometric construction around (another construction) so that the two are in contact but do not intersect: Compare inscribe (def. 4)
to draw a line round
Origin of circumscribe
1Derived forms of circumscribe
- circumscribable, adjective
- circumscriber, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for circumscribe
[ sûr′kəm-skrīb′ ]
To draw a figure around another figure so as to touch as many points as possible. A circle that is circumscribed around a triangle touches it at each of the triangle's three vertices.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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