within bounds

Idioms

Reasonable and allowable, up to a certain point, as in It's all right to play your stereo, but please keep the volume within bounds. Like its antonym, out of bounds, this term originally referred to the boundaries of a playing area of field.

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.

That led to an outcry among customers, including those who felt they were playing within bounds.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025

Snider’s slow, elegantly understated and, within bounds, reverential opera operates as much as a passion play as an opera.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2025

They can be kept within bounds and eventually dissipated only by…moral strength and firm maintenance of a united purpose…

From Salon • Mar. 5, 2023

CBP and the Texas Rangers are still investigating the circumstances, but the inspector general said the medical decisions were all within bounds.

From Washington Times • Feb. 26, 2023

My Lord Downshire retired to his hills, and kept his regiment within bounds.

From My Lords of Strogue, Vol. II (of III) A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union by Wingfield, Lewis

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023