confine
to enclose within bounds; limit or restrict: She confined her remarks to errors in the report. Confine your efforts to finishing the book.
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.
Usually confines. a boundary or bound; limit; border; frontier.
Often confines. region; territory.
Archaic. confinement.
Obsolete. a place of confinement; prison.
Origin of confine
1Other words for confine
Opposites for confine
Other words from confine
- con·fin·a·ble, con·fine·a·ble, adjective
- con·fine·less, adjective
- con·fin·er, noun
- non·con·fin·ing, adjective
- pre·con·fine, verb (used with object), pre·con·fined, pre·con·fin·ing.
- qua·si-con·fin·ing, adjective
- re·con·fine, verb (used with object), re·con·fined, re·con·fin·ing.
- self-con·fin·ing, adjective
- un·con·fin·a·ble, adjective
- un·con·fin·ing, adjective
Words Nearby confine
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use confine in a sentence
For starters, more people will probably watch the game within the confines of their homes.
How CBS will expand Super Bowl streaming viewership this year | Tim Peterson | February 1, 2021 | DigidayFrom his confines in a Melbourne hotel room, the world’s 70th-ranked men’s tennis player is staging a clinic on the sport’s mental game.
A tennis player has turned his Australian Open quarantine into a party of one | Liz Clarke | January 21, 2021 | Washington PostDue to close confines, too many deaths among inmates and correction officers have occurred nationally, and family and friend visitations are canceled.
Hints From Heloise: Send a letter to your future self | Heloise Heloise | January 21, 2021 | Washington PostThe trick is still mostly experimental, but it’s an example of thinking outside the artificial confines of a particular AI domain.
2021 Could Be a Banner Year for AI—If We Solve These 4 Problems | Shelly Fan | January 5, 2021 | Singularity HubExperts in psychology and decision-making say hostility toward wearing masks, even within the shared confines of a passenger jet, has been fueled by politicization — but also by skewed incentives and inconsistent messaging.
Sneezed on, cussed at, ignored: Airline workers battle mask resistance with scant government backup | Michael Laris | January 1, 2021 | Washington Post
It is naïve to imagine that a militarized police will confine itself to surgical strikes in crime-ridden areas.
These questions simply will not confine themselves to quiet rooms.
Paul Begala: The Strangely Silent Jan. 23 Debate in Tampa | Paul Begala | January 24, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTIn war, for instance, we certainly mean to confine our aspirations for life to ourselves and our allies.
Miss Gould will confine her lectures this week in English to the discussion of plays and play-making.
The Girls of Central High on the Stage | Gertrude W. MorrisonNo third mode of origin can be conceived, and we may safely confine ourselves to a review of these two claims.
Man And His Ancestor | Charles MorrisIf he confine that slave in his house, and afterwards the slave has been seized in his hand, that man shall be put to death.
The Oldest Code of Laws in the World | Hammurabi, King of BabylonSo, we will name no chemicals or poisons but confine ourselves to effects and processes.
We cannot confine the first refrain to one line only, as there is no stop at the end of l. 14.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems | Geoffrey Chaucer
British Dictionary definitions for confine
to keep or close within bounds; limit; restrict
to keep shut in; restrict the free movement of: arthritis confined him to bed
(often plural) a limit; boundary
Origin of confine
1Derived forms of confine
- confinable or confineable, adjective
- confineless, adjective
- confiner, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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