delimit
delimited; delimiting; delimits
When you set the boundaries of something, you delimit it. Suburban homeowners often delimit their property lines with tall privacy fences.
You can literally delimit something, the way you might delimit the boundaries of your airplane seat by planting your elbow on the armrest. There is also a figurative way to delimit, like when you delimit your summer schedule in an attempt to keep your cousin from visiting you for a month. Delimit comes from the Latin delimitare, "to mark out as a boundary."
Definitions of delimit
-
set, mark, or draw the boundaries of something
-
synonyms:
delimitate, demarcate
-
type of:
-
circumscribe, confine, limit
restrict or confine, "I limit you to two visits to the pub a day"
-
circumscribe, confine, limit
-
determine the essential quality of
-
synonyms:
define, delimitate, delineate, specify
-
be opposite to; of angles and sides, in geometry
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘delimit'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
Send us feedback
Word Family
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Look up delimit for the last time
Close your vocabulary gaps with personalized learning that focuses on teaching the words you need to know.
