limitation
[lim-i-tey-shuh n]
- a limiting condition; restrictive weakness; lack of capacity; inability or handicap: He knows his limitations as a writer.
- something that limits; a limit or bound; restriction: an arms limitation; a limitation on imports.
- the act of limiting.
- the state of being limited.
- Law. the assignment, as by statute, of a period of time within which an action must be brought, or the period of time assigned: a statute of limitations.
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Origin of limitation
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for limitations
Contemporary Examples
Another bombshell: There is no statute of limitations on rape in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Pennsylvania, where the assault is alleged to have taken place, has a 12-year statute of limitations on sexual assault.
Are there statutes of limitations for these crimes, which in some cases are alleged to have taken place decades ago?
According to the memo, Miller then asked what the statute of limitations in Illinois was and to define what the allegations meant.
It helped too that crime was no longer at the top of voter concerns, but the statute of limitations apparently has run out.
Historical Examples
He early ascertained his limitations with respect to New York and its people.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
The happy man is he who knows his limitations, yet bows to no false gods.
Ballads of a BohemianRobert W. Service
It's well enough for Milly; she doesn't understand her limitations.
The Bacillus of BeautyHarriet Stark
Away with it and its limitations, and those of its big brother, the automobile!
A Woman TenderfootGrace Gallatin Seton-Thompson
Phoebe in her earnestness forgot to keep within the limitations of their dialect.
Good IndianB. M. Bower
limitation
- something that limits a quality or achievement
- the act of limiting or the condition of being limited
- law a certain period of time, legally defined, within which an action, claim, etc, must be commenced
- property law a restriction upon the duration or extent of an estate
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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
Word Origin and History for limitations
limitation
n.
late 14c., from Old French limitacion and directly from Latin limitationem (nominative limitatio), noun of action from past participle stem of limitare (see limit (v.)). Phrase statute of limitations attested by 1768.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper