confine
Americanverb (used with object)
-
confines,
present (3rd person singular)
-
confined,
past participle, past
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confining
present participle
-
to enclose within bounds; limit or restrict.
She confined her remarks to errors in the report. Confine your efforts to finishing the book.
- Synonyms:
- circumscribe
- Antonyms:
- free
-
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.
- Antonyms:
- free
noun
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Usually confines. a boundary or bound; limit; border; frontier.
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Often confines. region; territory.
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Archaic. confinement.
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Obsolete. a place of confinement; prison.
verb
-
to keep or close within bounds; limit; restrict
-
to keep shut in; restrict the free movement of
arthritis confined him to bed
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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confinernoun
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preconfineverb (used with object)
-
reconfineverb (used with object)
-
confinableadjective
-
confineableadjective
-
confinelessadjective
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nonconfiningadjective
-
quasi-confiningadjective
-
self-confiningadjective
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unconfinableadjective
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unconfiningadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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confinesimple
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confinessimple
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have confinedperfect
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has confinedperfect
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am confiningprogressive
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are confiningprogressive
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is confiningprogressive
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have been confiningperfect progressive
-
has been confiningperfect progressive
Past
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confinedsimple
-
had confinedperfect
-
was confiningprogressive
-
were confiningprogressive
-
had been confiningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of confine
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-, fine 2); (v.) < Middle French confiner, verbal derivative of confins < Latin, as above
Explanation
Confine is all about setting limits. If you are confined to the house, it means you can't leave it. If you're really sick, you might be confined to your bed. Confine can be used abstractly as well. In writing a term paper, your teacher might tell you to confine your examples to ones that you can support with direct evidence. In the 19th century, pregnancy and childbirth were often referred to as a woman's confinement—a time when she couldn't get up or out.
Vocabulary lists containing confine
100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Bridge to Terabithia
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Marbury v. Madison (1803)
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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.
See Examples For:
The gold structures form tiny cavities that confine light between the gold and semiconductor layers.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026
The only way to maintain a precise technical meaning for this term would be to confine its use to a largely relevant group of insiders.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
The Dodgers have said closer Edwin Díaz is expected to return from elbow surgery sometime after the All-Star break, which would confine that time frame to two weeks, if that.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
The sun’s mass makes it a gravity-powered fusion reactor, but on Earth, scientists need other ways to create plasma—a superheated, electrically charged gas—and confine it to force atoms to collide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
Will you confine yourself to answering my questions.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Rather than treating the inductive effect as an influence that gradually travels along a chain of atoms, the team's interpretation confines it to the bond directly connected to the relevant atom in a neutral molecule.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Last week, he was transferred while awaiting trial to Bolivia’s maximum-security Chonchocoro prison, infamous for its high-altitude, ill-heated confines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
That has led to a sharp decline in mail, care packages and time spent away from the confines of the ships, which allows sailors to clear their heads, according to the people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
In the close confines of the chamber, with ranks of Labour members behind him, Burnham will finally come face to face with his political opponents.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
The scents in the air were familiar—hay and sweat and manure—but inside the wood-paneled confines, they were nauseating.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
But construction has been confined to the Central Valley and nowhere is the line operable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
But the danger is not confined to spectacular floods.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
OpenAI had revealed that during testing, the AI models broke out of their confined environment, connected to the internet and infiltrated Hugging Face, a site developers use to store and share code.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
The legacy of 9/11 isn’t confined to Manhattan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
It is not what he expected, being liberated from the world and reinstated in a confined location.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
What were the aspects of her caregiving that provided a sense of meaningful connection, and what were the parts she found confining?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
The former Bosnia international joined a club under a transfer embargo, confining them to free transfers and loans, but still made them promotion contenders.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Only one of the suspects was issued a citation for unlawfully capturing and confining wildlife, the news release said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
Materials with higher refractive indices are better at confining and directing light within devices.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 21, 2026
I suspect Haymitch initially, but then there's a more insidious fear that the Capitol may by monitoring and confining me.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
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.
