confine
Americanverb (used with object)
-
confines,
present (3rd person singular)
-
confined,
past participle, past
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confining
present participle
-
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
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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
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Usually confines. a boundary or bound; limit; border; frontier.
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Often confines. region; territory.
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Archaic. confinement.
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Obsolete. a place of confinement; prison.
verb
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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
Derived Forms
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confinernoun
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preconfineverb (used with object)
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reconfineverb (used with object)
-
confinableadjective
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confineableadjective
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confinelessadjective
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nonconfiningadjective
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quasi-confiningadjective
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self-confiningadjective
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unconfinableadjective
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unconfiningadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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confinesimple
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confinessimple
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have confinedperfect
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has confinedperfect
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am confiningprogressive
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are confiningprogressive
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is confiningprogressive
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have been confiningperfect progressive
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has been confiningperfect progressive
Past
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confinedsimple
-
had confinedperfect
-
was confiningprogressive
-
were confiningprogressive
-
had been confiningperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing confine
100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Bridge to Terabithia
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Marbury v. Madison (1803)
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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.
See Examples For:
The film’s merit is not simply in how it illustrates the structures that bind and confine, but in how Wilde propulsively peels them apart to create a picture of romantic neuroses anyone can relate to.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
Poor Mr. Biswas, a man of meager prospects but irrepressible pride, must suffer through a series of demeaning dwellings to which his in-laws, the emasculating Tulsis, confine him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 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
Reducing their size caused them to lose their ability to confine light.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 5, 2026
And she undertook a thorough review of the sehottische, making sure to confine the dancing to the nursery this time.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
Perpetuating these kinds of gravely serious illnesses extends the sickness past the confines of our own bodies, and into the world around us.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
But what was it doing in New York City, far from the confines of the rural areas to which I had assumed it was limited?
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
WSJLI: Are there other things that you’ve done, sort of outside the confines of your day-to-day job, to help reach your goal?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
With the noisy calls of angry protesters echoing around the tight confines of Ivana Franka Square, within earshot of the presidential palace, Budanov said the government was taking note.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Within its metal confines he raised holy hell, throwing himself around, exhausting the assistant starters, and reminding everyone of Hard Tack.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
As people move deeper and deeper into ecosystems and territories where few, if any, had lived before, they risk interacting with pathogens that were previously confined.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Drawing on archives, interviews and forensic analysis, she makes the case that the agency’s efforts were not confined to obscure institutions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
That loss of faith is not confined to Jharkhand.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Earlier research modeled what would happen to deer-vehicle collisions if mountain lions recolonized the eastern United States, where they once roamed before hunting and habitat destruction left them largely confined to the West.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
Will it always be confined and untrustworthy like it feels today?
From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King
She stressed the dangers of confining discussion of eating disorders to weight alone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 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
Oh, and there’s a giant hole in the ceiling of her apartment, confining her to a hotel room while her landlord drags his feet to get it fixed.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2025
But one ardent 20-something salesperson told me that he found Austria to be too confining and tradition-bound, whereas he believed that there was opportunity for all in L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
In church when she knelt, in the yard when she beat rugs, beneath the peach tree when she picked fruit, Desdemona’s feminine elaborations escaped the constraints of her drab, confining clothes.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
