Demarcation
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The act of marking off a boundary or setting a limit, notably by belligerents signing a treaty or ceasefire. countable, uncountable
- 2 a conceptual separation or distinction wordnet
- 3 A limit thus fixed, in full demarcation line. countable, uncountable
"About sunset, he was leaning on the remains of an old wall, which had once probably surrounded a Roman encampment, and now served as a line of demarcation between two villages, as jealous of each other's claims as near neighbours usually are."
- 4 the boundary of a specific area wordnet
- 5 Any strictly defined separation. countable, uncountable
"There is an alleged, in fact somewhat artificial demarcation in the type of work done by members of different trade unions."
Example
More examples"The International Date Line serves as the "line of demarcation" between two consecutive calendar dates."
Etymology
First recorded c.1752, from Spanish línea de demarcación and/or Portuguese linha de demarcação, the demarcation line laid down by the Pope on May 4, 1493, dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal on a line 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Both derive from demarcar, from de- + marcar (“to mark”), from Italian marcare, from the same Germanic root as march.
Related phrases
More for "demarcation"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.