speed limit

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   The fastest speed that vehicles are legally allowed to travel on a particular road.

   Grammar: Countable: the speed limit here is 30; different roads have different speed limits.

   Patterns

   • the speed limit on something
   • exceed the speed limit

   The speed limit on this street is twenty-five miles an hour.

   A police officer stopped her for going over the speed limit.

   They lowered the speed limit near the school.

2. 2nouncountablefigurative

   A maximum rate set by a rule or law of nature, beyond which something cannot go.

   Grammar: Used figuratively or scientifically, usually with 'of': the speed limit of light.

   Patterns

   • the speed limit of something

   The speed of light is the ultimate speed limit of the universe.

   The school set a speed limit on how fast students could rush the corridor.

   There is a speed limit on how quickly a network can transfer files.

Word forms

Common combinations

exceed the speed limit

He was fined for exceeding the speed limit.

obey the speed limit

Please obey the speed limit in the village.

lower the speed limit

The council lowered the speed limit to twenty.

reduced speed limit

A reduced speed limit applies during roadworks.

stay within the speed limit

She stayed within the speed limit all the way home.

national speed limit

The national speed limit on this type of road is sixty.

Synonyms and how they differ

maximum speed

Maximum speed can mean the top speed a vehicle can reach, whereas speed limit is a legal rule.

speed restriction

Speed restriction sounds more official and is common for trains and temporary road works.

cap

Cap is a general word for any upper limit and is not specific to roads.

Opposites

Word family

speed noun

how fast something moves

speeding noun

driving faster than the limit

limit noun

a point you may not go beyond

speed camera noun

a device that records vehicles going too fast

Commonly confused: speed limit or top speed?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “speed limit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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