Link Centre Dictionary

circumscribe

cir·cumsc·ribe

UK/ˈsɜː.kəm.skɹaɪb/ US/ˈsɝ.kəm.skɹaɪb/ uncommon

verb

1.

draw a line around

  • “He drew a circle around the points”
2.

restrict or confine, "I limit you to two visits to the pub a day"

Synonyms
3.

to draw a geometric figure around another figure so that the two are in contact but do not intersect

Origin

From Latin circumscrībō, from circum (“around”) + scrībō (“write”). By surface analysis, circum- + scribe.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.