circumscribe
Americanverb (used with object)
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to draw a line around; encircle.
to circumscribe a city on a map.
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to enclose within bounds; limit or confine, especially narrowly.
Her social activities are circumscribed by school regulations.
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to mark off; define; delimit.
to circumscribe the area of a science.
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Geometry.
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to draw (a figure) around another figure so as to touch as many points as possible.
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(of a figure) to enclose (another figure) in this manner.
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verb
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to restrict within limits
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to mark or set the bounds of
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to draw a geometric construction around (another construction) so that the two are in contact but do not intersect Compare inscribe
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to draw a line round
Other Word Forms
- circumscribable adjective
- circumscriber noun
- noncircumscribed adjective
- uncircumscribable adjective
- uncircumscribed adjective
Etymology
Origin of circumscribe
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin circumscrībere, equivalent to circum- circum- + scrībere to write
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
These Black artists are asserting their right to public space at a time when that space is still circumscribed by race, gender and class — and can be fatal to occupy.
From New York Times
The depression may circumscribe his behavior, but don’t let it dictate yours.
From Washington Post
The Taliban were founded in an ideology dictating that women should play only the most circumscribed roles in society.
From New York Times
Today, as our lives are circumscribed by a pandemic and a variant that has begun targeting children and teens, how should girls imagine their future?
From Washington Post
Some felt remorse — a sense of what might have been — because these Games would be so much more circumscribed than the last time they were in Tokyo.
From Seattle Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
