within bounds

Idioms  

1. 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.

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Example Sentences

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

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

Reform-minded scholars generally kept their ideas within bounds acceptable to leaders.

From New York Times • Jul. 4, 2021

I have kept much within bounds in noticing the advanced state of Science, and I feel assured that what I have recommended can be easily and immediately reduced to practice.

From An Address to Men of Science Calling Upon Them to Stand Forward and Vindicate the Truth.... by Carlile, Richard