circumscribe
/ˈsəːkəmskrʌɪb
/verb [with object]
1Restrict (something) within limits: the minister’s powers are circumscribed both by tradition and the organization of local government...
- If one assigns to the authorities the power to imprison or even to kill people, one must restrict and clearly circumscribe this power.
- From the earliest days of the new state there were efforts to circumscribe local authority powers.
- The practice is severely circumscribed and tightly regulated.
Synonyms
restrict, limit, set/impose limits on, keep within bounds, delimit, curb, confine, bound, restrain;
regulate, control
2 Geometry Draw (a figure) round another, touching it at points but not cutting it: if a hexagon is circumscribed about a circle the lines joining opposite vertices meet in one point...Compare with inscribe.
- The same circle circumscribes both the pentagon of the dodecahedron.
- This he obtained by circumscribing and inscribing a circle with regular polygons having 96 sides.
Derivatives
circumscribable
circumscriber
- The chief of Dasyus is Vala, whose name signifies circumscriber or ‘encloser.’
- The illustration of God as the circumscriber and measurer popularly called ‘The Ancient of Days,’ is a hand colored engraving by the poet, painter and professional engraver William Blake.
circumscription
/ noun ...- The disappearance of such spaces has meant the circumscription of our human possibilities, and not all the joggers' parks in the world can offer adequate recompense for that.
- A significant minority were actively engaged in overcoming gender-based circumscriptions around their leisure pursuits.
- Our circumscription by technology has also made us ‘autistic’ to one another, markedly eroding our social lives in recent years.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin circumscribere, from circum 'around' + scribere 'write'.