Confine

//kənˈfaɪn// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A boundary or limit. in-plural
  2. 2
    Confinement, imprisonment. poetic

    "She says for you to bring her a slice of cake, A bottle of the best wine, And not to forget the fair young lady That did release you from close confine."

Verb
  1. 1
    To have a common boundary with; to border on. obsolete

    "Where your gloomy bounds / Confine with heaven"

  2. 2
    place limits on (extent or amount or access) wordnet
  3. 3
    To restrict (someone or something) to a particular scope or area; to keep in or within certain bounds. transitive

    "Now let not nature's hand / Keep the wild flood confined! let order die!"

  4. 4
    to close within bounds, or otherwise limit or deprive of free movement wordnet
  5. 5
    prevent from leaving or from being removed wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    deprive of freedom; take into confinement wordnet
  2. 7
    close in wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
circumscribeencloserestrainrestrictarenaarrest

Example

More examples

"Here, I'll confine this discussion to why many foreigners enjoy sumo."

Etymology

From Middle French confiner, from confins, from Medieval Latin confines, from Latin confinium, from confīnis.

Related phrases

confine oneself

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.