circumscribe

[sur-kuhm-skrahyb, sur-kuhm-skrahyb]

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

/ 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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of circumscribe¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin circumscrībere, equivalent to circum- circum- + scrībere to write

Word History and Origins

Origin of circumscribe¹

C15: from Latin circumscrībere, from _circum- + scrībere to write

Example Sentences

Early Renaissance sculptors went to school on works like this, learning from them how to tell a complex story on a flat surface within a circumscribed area.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In total, Trumpism models limited, circumscribed versions of citizenship and political belonging known as blood and soil nationalism, where racial stock determines human worth, rights and citizenship.

Read more on Salon

Yet this project’s geography is circumscribed, its borders hedged.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

As per the country's own observations, the fund had limited ability to do something about the loan, and was "circumscribed by procedural and technical formalities".

Read more on BBC

Theo is born at an inopportune time for Jews, whose rights are increasingly circumscribed in the country.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• delineate