CIRCUMSCRIBE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does circumscribe mean? 

• CIRCUMSCRIBE (verb)
  The verb CIRCUMSCRIBE has 3 senses:

1. draw a line around

2. restrict or confine within limits

3. to draw a geometric figure around another figure so that the two are in contact but do not intersect

  Familiarity information: CIRCUMSCRIBE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CIRCUMSCRIBE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they circumscribe    ... he / she / it circumscribes   
Past simple: circumscribed   
Past participle: circumscribed   
-ing form: circumscribing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Draw a line around

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

He drew a circle around the points

Hypernyms (to "circumscribe" is one way to...):

delineate; describe; draw; line; trace (make a mark or lines on a surface)

Verb group:

circumscribe (to draw a geometric figure around another figure so that the two are in contact but do not intersect)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

circumscription (the act of circumscribing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Restrict or confine within limits

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

circumscribe; confine to; limit

Context example:

our actions are circumscribed by our biology, personality, and by the social and cultural context into which we are born

Hypernyms (to "circumscribe" is one way to...):

decrease; lessen; minify (make smaller)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "circumscribe"):

hold down (restrain)

keep down; number (place a limit on the number of)

cap (restrict the number or amount of)

curb; curtail; cut back; restrict (place restrictions on)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

circumscription (the act of circumscribing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

To draw a geometric figure around another figure so that the two are in contact but do not intersect

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "circumscribe" is one way to...):

delineate; describe; draw; line; trace (make a mark or lines on a surface)

Verb group:

circumscribe (draw a line around)

Domain category:

geometry (the pure mathematics of points and lines and curves and surfaces)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

circumscription (the act of circumscribing)

 Context examples 

It is a well-circumscribed multicystic mass without solid areas.

(Multilocular Cystic Renal Cell Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A benign, well circumscribed soft tissue neoplasm characterized by the presence of spindle shaped myofibroblasts and mast cells in a collagenous stroma.

(Myofibroblastoma, NCI Thesaurus)

It usually presents as a localized cutaneous lesion and less often as a circumscribed peripheral nerve mass.

(Neurofibroma, NCI Thesaurus)

An enlarged thyroid gland containing circumscribed nodules within its substance.

(Non-Toxic Nodular Goiter, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A benign, well-circumscribed glandular neoplasm that arises from the middle ear and may exhibit neuroendocrine differentiation.

(Middle Ear Adenoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A rare type of well circumscribed or encapsulated thymoma with a biphasic architecture, consisting of epithelial cell islands and bundles of spindle cells.

(Metaplastic Thymoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A poorly circumscribed morphologic variant of rhabdomyosarcoma occurring in children.

(Childhood Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)

It is well circumscribed, with soft cut surface and often of considerable size.

(Medullary breast carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A rare, circumscribed, non-encapsulated and grossly pigmented variant of schwannoma.

(Melanotic Schwannoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A benign, well-circumscribed renal cortical neoplasm affecting females more often than males.

(Metanephric Adenoma, NCI Thesaurus)