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demarcation - 4 dictionary results

de⋅mar⋅ca⋅tion

  [dee-mahr-key-shuhn]
Use demarcation in a Sentence
–noun
1. the determining and marking off of the boundaries of something.
2. separation by distinct boundaries: line of demarcation.
Also, de⋅mar⋅ka⋅tion.

Origin:
1720–30; Latinization of Sp demarcación (in linea de demarcación line of demarcation, dividing the world between Spain and Portugal) deriv. of demarcar to mark out the bounds of, equiv. to de- de- + marcar < It marcare < Gmc; see mark 1 , -ation
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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de·mar·ca·tion also de·mar·ka·tion   (dē'mär-kā'shən)   
n.  
  1. The setting or marking of boundaries or limits.
  2. A separation; a distinction: a line of demarcation between two rock strata.

[Spanish demarcación, from demarcar, to mark boundaries : de-, off (from Latin dē-; see de-) + marcar, to mark (from Italian marcare, from Old Italian, of Germanic origin; see merg- in Indo-European roots).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Demarcation

De`mar*ca"tion\, n. [F. d['e]marcation; pref. d['e]- (L. de) + marquer to mark, of German origin. See Mark.] The act of marking, or of ascertaining and setting a limit; separation; distinction.

The speculative line of demarcation, where obedience ought to end and resistance must begin, is faint, obscure, and not easily definable. --Burke.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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demarcation 
c.1752, from Sp. linea de demarcacion, or Port. linha de demarcaçao, line laid down by the Pope, May 4, 1493, dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal on a line 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Applied from 1801 to other lines dividing regions.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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