circumscribe
verbUK /ˈsɜː.kəm.skɹaɪb/ · US /ˈsɝ.kəm.skɹaɪb/
Etymology From Latin circumscrībō, from circum (“around”) + scrībō (“write”). By surface analysis, circum- + scribe.
1
To draw a line around; to encircle.
2
To limit narrowly; to restrict.
- "Well, I promise you to circumscribe her conquests as much as possible by extending my own," returned Henrietta. "It will be an easy task; for Miss Churchill does not do 'the honours of her eyes.' I often tell her her beauty is quite wasted upon her."1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Asking for an Invitation”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 29:
- It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: […]; perhaps to moralise on the oneness or fragility of the planet, or to see humanity for the small and circumscribed thing that it is; […].2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:
3
Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences To draw the smallest circle or higher-dimensional sphere that has (a polyhedron, polygon, etc.) in its interior.
- Derived terms
- circumscribability, circumscribable, circumscriber
- Related terms
- circumscribed, circumscript, circumscription