circumscribe
Americanverb (used with object)
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circumscribes,
present (3rd person singular)
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circumscribed,
past participle, past
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circumscribing
present participle
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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
Derived Forms
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circumscribernoun
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circumscribableadjective
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noncircumscribedadjective
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uncircumscribableadjective
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uncircumscribedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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circumscribesimple
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circumscribessimple
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have circumscribedperfect
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has circumscribedperfect
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am circumscribingprogressive
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are circumscribingprogressive
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is circumscribingprogressive
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have been circumscribingperfect progressive
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has been circumscribingperfect progressive
Past
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circumscribedsimple
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had circumscribedperfect
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was circumscribingprogressive
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were circumscribingprogressive
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had been circumscribingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of circumscribe
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin circumscrībere, equivalent to circum- circum- + scrībere to write
Explanation
To circumscribe is to limit or restrict. If you spend too much time watching TV instead of fulfilling other obligations, you might circumscribe your TV-watching time to one hour daily (or two hours, if your favorite show is on). Circumscribe comes from the Latin words circum, meaning "around," and scribere, meaning "to write." If the word circumscribe causes you to think of geometry class, give yourself a pat on the back. In geometry, circumscribe means to draw one geometric figure around another figure so that the two figures touch but don’t intersect. If you studied geometry but this sounds unfamiliar, perhaps you should have taken our advice about watching too much TV.
Vocabulary lists containing circumscribe
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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The Write Stuff: Scrib, Script
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Around and Around: Circum
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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:
First, the state needs to provide clear guidance to carefully circumscribe the situations in which conservatorships are, and are not, appropriate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2023
The charter provision does not appear to circumscribe that investigative authority for the department’s highest-ranking officer, the police chief.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 13, 2023
The depression may circumscribe his behavior, but don’t let it dictate yours.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 21, 2021
And, in futuristic novels, oppressive regimes such as Margaret Atwood’s Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale severely circumscribe touch.
From The Guardian ● May 22, 2020
Time and experience dissipate this illusion; and by reducing them to detail, circumscribe the limits of our expectations.
From A Century of English Essays An Anthology Ranging from Caxton to R. L. Stevenson & the Writers of Our Own Time by Ernest Rhys
It’s one thing to confer maximalist, seemingly boundless authority on the executive branch and on the president that, by definition, circumscribes the judicial role.
From Slate ● Dec. 19, 2025
But Wednesday’s ruling seriously circumscribes the instances where that can actually happen, justices said.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 8, 2022
My problem is when I feel like other people’s perceptions and ideas of who I am and who they want me to be circumscribes my life and is limiting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2021
Using high-profile cases, interdisciplinary research and her own experience, Henning provides a complete account of how the criminal legal system circumscribes every part of Black children’s lives.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 10, 2021
We pulled onto 1-465, the beltway that circumscribes Indianapolis.
From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green
Of course the playwright has prepared the way, but the wayward emotions emanating from these inwardly glowing performances are refreshing in work that has the crisp, circumscribed elegance of a mathematical proof.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
In imagining her disturbed perceptions, the novel shows the old dog’s circumscribed world transfigured by long forgotten yearnings and powerfully altered understandings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
As recently as the noncooperation movement in 1920-22, women played a far more circumscribed role.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025
The family shame around Mitchell’s violent death prevented me from understanding his full legacy, and ultimately circumscribed the meaning of his life and art.
From Slate ● Jun. 6, 2025
They make the same mistake I made as a boy, when I thought a disadvantaged life was circumscribed by particular occupations.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
That precedent set a “great level of deference” as the standard of review for deployments that have since mushroomed across the country, circumscribing debate even in courts where it is not legally binding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
When, however, I search for “War on Terror, civilians killed” without even circumscribing the time range, I get about 850,000 results.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2024
"But that does not mean that Greece is to blame, it is just circumscribing specific areas of responsibility," he added.
From Reuters ● Jun. 15, 2023
The Constitution structures our fundamental political institutions to provide the energy and flexibility to secure rights while circumscribing the exercise of political power to prevent government from violating rights.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 16, 2020
“With every passing day, Watergate was circumscribing our freedom of action,” Kissinger, the one person unscathed by scandal, later said.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
