circumscribe

American  

[sur-kuhm-skrahyb, sur-kuhm-skrahyb] / ˈsɜr kəmˌskraɪb, ˌsɜr kəmˈskraɪb /

verb (used with object)

circumscribed, circumscribing

1. to draw a line around; encircle.

   to circumscribe a city on a map.

2. to enclose within bounds; limit or confine, especially narrowly.

   Her social activities are circumscribed by school regulations.

   Synonyms:

   hinder, hamper, check, restrain, restrict

3. to mark off; define; delimit.

   to circumscribe the area of a science.

4. Geometry.

   1. to draw (a figure) around another figure so as to touch as many points as possible.

   2. (of a figure) to enclose (another figure) in this manner.

---

circumscribe British  

/ ˌsɜːkəmˈskraɪb, ˈsɜːkəmˌskraɪb /

verb

1. to restrict within limits

2. to mark or set the bounds of

3. to draw a geometric construction around (another construction) so that the two are in contact but do not intersect Compare inscribe

4. to draw a line round

---

circumscribe Scientific  

/ sûr′kəm-skrīb′ /

1. To draw a figure around another figure so as to touch as many points as possible. A circle that is circumscribed around a triangle touches it at each of the triangle's three vertices.

---

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

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

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

It ended without a firm decision on whether to circumscribe those probes entirely but with consensus inside the room that narrowing the investigation, if only in terms of political messaging, made sense.

From Washington Post • Sep. 25, 2019

On the anterior portion of the face we find the nasal bones, which, articulating with the frontal on one side, circumscribe, on the other, the posterior border of the nares.

From Artistic Anatomy of Animals by Cuyer, ?douard

Related Words

• delineate