Nearby Words
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.
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Confining
is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
| 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. |
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), -fined, -fin·ing.
EXPANDqua·si-con·fin·ing, adjective
re·con·fine, verb (used with object), -fined, -fin·ing.
self-con·fin·ing, adjective
un·con·fin·a·ble, adjective
un·con·fin·ing, adjective
COLLAPSESynonyms
1. circumscribe.
1. circumscribe.
Antonyms
1, 2. free.
1, 2. free.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To confining
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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