Meaning & use
circumscribe
To restrict or limit something within certain bounds, or to draw a line enclosing a shape.
See it in a sentence
New regulations sharply circumscribed what the agency was allowed to investigate.
The geometry teacher showed students how to circumscribe a circle around a triangle.
A note on using this word
Circumscribe has both a figurative sense of limiting power or freedom and a literal geometric sense of enclosing a shape with a line.
Words with a similar meaning
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
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