confines
Use Confines in a sentence
faɪn verb (used with object)
1.
to enclose within bounds; limit or restrict: She confined her remarks to errors in the report. Confine your efforts to finishing the book.
2.
to shut or keep in; prevent from leaving a place because of imprisonment, illness, discipline, etc.: For that offense he was confined to quarters for 30 days.
noun
3.
Usually, confines. a boundary or bound; limit; border; frontier.
4.
Often, confines. region; territory.
5.
Archaic. confinement.
6.
Obsolete. a place of confinement; prison.
00:10
Confines
is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
Origin:
1350–1400 for noun; 1515–25 for v.; (noun) Middle English < Middle French confins, confines < Medieval Latin confinia, plural of Latin confinis boundary, border (see con-, fine2); (v.) < Middle French confiner, verbal derivative of confins < Latin, as above
1350–1400 for noun; 1515–25 for v.; (noun) Middle English < Middle French confins, confines < Medieval Latin confinia, plural of Latin confinis boundary, border (see con-, fine2); (v.) < Middle French confiner, verbal derivative of confins < Latin, as above
Related forms
con·fin·a·ble, con·fine·a·ble, adjective
con·fine·less, adjective
con·fin·er, noun
non·con·fin·ing, adjective
pre·con·fine, verb (used with object), pre·con·fined, pre·con·fin·ing.
qua·si-con·fin·ing, adjective
re·con·fine, verb (used with object), re·con·fined, re·con·fin·ing.
self-con·fin·ing, adjective
un·con·fin·a·ble, adjective
un·con·fin·ing, adjective
Synonyms
1. circumscribe.
1. circumscribe.
Antonyms
1, 2. free.
1, 2. free.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To confines
Collins
World English Dictionary
| confine | |
| —vb | |
| 1. | to keep or close within bounds; limit; restrict |
| 2. | to keep shut in; restrict the free movement of: arthritis confined him to bed |
| —n | |
| 3. | (often plural) a limit; boundary |
| [C16: from Medieval Latin confīnāre from Latin confīnis adjacent, from fīnis end, boundary] | |
| con'finable | |
| —adj | |
| con'fineable | |
| —adj | |
| 'confineless | |
| —adj | |
| con'finer | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
confine
c.1400, from L. confinium (pl. confinia) "boundary, limit," from confine, neut. of confinis "bordering on," from com- "with" + finis "an end" (see finish). The noun is older in Eng.; verb sense of "keeping within limits" is from 1595.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Cite This Source
Example sentences
We certainly need teachers who are both highly skilled and who can think rigorously beyond the confines of their own discipline.
He should also enjoy the switch to the more pitcher-friendly confines of the team's home stadium.
Within the confines of free-market capitalism, selling animals for food will always entail unnecessary suffering.
Their conflicting ambitions cannot be fitted into the confines of any ethical system which transcends the tribalistic.
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