confine

American  

[kuhn-fahyn, kon-fahyn] / kənˈfaɪn, ˈkɒn faɪn /

verb (used with object)

• confines,
  present (3rd person singular)
• confined,
  past participle,  past
• confining
  present participle

1. 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

2. 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

1. Usually confines. a boundary or bound; limit; border; frontier.

2. Often confines. region; territory.

3. Archaic. confinement.

4. Obsolete. a place of confinement; prison.

confine British  

verb

1. to keep or close within bounds; limit; restrict

2. to keep shut in; restrict the free movement of

   arthritis confined him to bed

---

noun

1. (often plural) a limit; boundary

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• confiner
  noun
• preconfine
  verb (used with object)
• reconfine
  verb (used with object)
• confinable
  adjective
• confineable
  adjective
• confineless
  adjective
• nonconfining
  adjective
• quasi-confining
  adjective
• self-confining
  adjective
• unconfinable
  adjective
• unconfining
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• confining
  present
• confined
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• confine
  simple
• confines
  simple
• have confined
  perfect
• has confined
  perfect
• am confining
  progressive
• are confining
  progressive
• is confining
  progressive
• have been confining
  perfect progressive
• has been confining
  perfect progressive

Past

• confined
  simple
• had confined
  perfect
• was confining
  progressive
• were confining
  progressive
• had been confining
  perfect progressive

Future

• will confine
  simple
• will have confined
  perfect
• will be confining
  progressive
• will have been confining
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

confine confines confined confining

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

I feel sure the Homeowners Association will require you to confine that nonsense to your garage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026

Instead of trapping light inside solid matter, they confine it within subwavelength air cavities etched into a material with a very high refractive index.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 24, 2026

But he didn’t just confine himself to Bronstein’s efforts.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Even with “Digger,” Cruise’s most ambitious project in years, he confines himself to a loud, obnoxious character destined to be written about as a “big swing.”

From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026

And some drivers find the cooling top uncomfortable in the tight confines of the cockpit.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

I’m not advocating for speeding, but you’re not bound by the confines of traffic, where you have a stoplight at every block.

From Slate ● Sep. 28, 2026

All over the country, this was the week that panic about the existential threat of AI appeared to leap from the confines of internet debates and Silicon Valley circles and spread across mainstream America.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

Do the various attacks stay within the confines of the jungle?

From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

Yes, plague is a real, actual disease, and one that isn’t confined to history books.

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026

While one might assume there’s a small dedicated area where the rain is confined, that’s not the case — it splatters over the whole stage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

In July, AI agents developed by OpenAI attacked Hugging Face, an AI model and application library, during an incident where the autonomous software escaped its confined testing environment.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

Ray also recognizes that one of the reasons that travel can be an exercise in self-reflection is because of the confined means by which modern travelers are conveyed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

“I thought something vast would be nice after all the talk of confined spaces,” Marco says.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

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

She stressed the dangers of confining discussion of eating disorders to weight alone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 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

Some fusion systems focus on reaching the highest pressures possible, while others compensate by confining plasma for longer periods.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2025

My sleeping bag was beginning to feel a bit confining, sort of tight at the bottom, having worked itself around my legs.

From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx

Related Words

• constrain
• detain
• hinder
• imprison
• incarcerate
• jail
• restrain
• restrict