confine
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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
-
Usually confines. a boundary or bound; limit; border; frontier.
-
Often confines. region; territory.
-
Archaic. confinement.
-
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
- confinable adjective
- confineable adjective
- confineless adjective
- confiner noun
- nonconfining adjective
- preconfine verb (used with object)
- quasi-confining adjective
- reconfine verb (used with object)
- self-confining adjective
- unconfinable adjective
- unconfining adjective
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 ( con-, fine 2 ); (v.) < Middle French confiner, verbal derivative of confins < Latin, as above
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.
The team confined thousands of rubidium atoms so they could only move along a single straight line, using a combination of magnetic and optical fields.
From Science Daily
The couple had been seeking help for their adult son, who was confined to a wheelchair due to a mysterious illness.
The repression has not been confined to media workers.
From BBC
But under the new plans, the onus would shift to confining the offender to specific areas tailored to them.
From BBC
Concerns about risks that were once confined to debates among geeks have gone mainstream and increasingly bipartisan, fueled by fears about what AI is going to do to the job market.
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.
