CONFINE

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does confine mean? 

• CONFINE (verb)
  The verb CONFINE has 5 senses:

1. place limits on (extent or amount or access)

2. prevent from leaving or from being removed

3. close in

4. deprive of freedom; take into confinement

5. to close within bounds, or otherwise limit or deprive of free movement

  Familiarity information: CONFINE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONFINE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they confine ... he / she / it confines
Past simple: confined   
Past participle: confined   
-ing form: confining   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Place limits on (extent or amount or access)

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

bound; confine; limit; restrict; throttle; trammel

Context example:

limit the time you can spend with your friends

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

tie (limit or restrict to)

gate (restrict (school boys') movement to the dormitory or campus as a means of punishment)

draw a line; draw the line (reasonably object (to) or set a limit (on))

mark off; mark out (set boundaries to and delimit)

cramp; halter; hamper; strangle (prevent the progress or free movement of)

constrain; stiffen; tighten; tighten up (severely restrict in scope or extent)

clamp down; crack down (repress or suppress (something regarded as undesirable))

delimit; delimitate; demarcate (set, mark, or draw the boundaries of something)

cumber; encumber; restrain (restrict (someone or something) so as to make free movement difficult)

scant; skimp (limit in quality or quantity)

reduce; tighten (narrow or limit)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Prevent from leaving or from being removed

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

hold back; keep; keep back; restrain (prevent the action or expression of)

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

cabin (confine to a small space, such as a cabin)

lock in; seal in (close with or as if with a tight seal)

lock; lock away; lock in; lock up; put away; shut away; shut up (place in a place where something cannot be removed or someone cannot escape)

coop in; coop up (confine in or as if in a coop)

closet (confine to a small space, as for intensive work)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Close in

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

confine; enclose; hold in

Context example:

darkness enclosed him

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

bear; carry; contain; hold (contain or hold; have within)

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

border; bound (form the boundary of; be contiguous to)

embank (enclose with banks, as for support or protection)

rail; rail in (enclose with rails)

box in; box up (enclose or confine as if in a box)

frame (enclose in a frame, as of a picture)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

confinement (the state of being confined)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Deprive of freedom; take into confinement

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

confine; detain

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

keep (hold and prevent from leaving)

straiten (squeeze together)

gaol; immure; imprison; incarcerate; jail; jug; lag; put away; put behind bars; remand (lock up or confine, in or as in a jail)

intern (deprive of freedom)

bind over (order a defendant to be placed in custody pending the outcome of a proceedings against him or her)

imprison (confine as if in a prison)

cage; cage in (confine in a cage)

pin down; trap (place in a confining or embarrassing position)

keep in (cause to stay indoors)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to confine the prisoners

Antonym:

free (grant freedom to; free from confinement)

Derivation:

confinement (the act of restraining of a person's liberty by confining them)

Sense 5

Meaning:

To close within bounds, or otherwise limit or deprive of free movement

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

confine; constrain; hold; restrain

Context example:

The terrorists held the journalists for ransom

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

disable; disenable; incapacitate (make unable to perform a certain action)

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

bind; tie down; tie up; truss (secure with or as if with ropes)

ground (confine or restrict to the ground)

fold; pen up (confine in a fold, like sheep)

pound; pound up (shut up or confine in any enclosure or within any bounds or limits)

impound; pound (place or shut up in a pound)

pinion; shackle (bind the arms of)

enchain (restrain or bind with chains)

fetter; shackle (restrain with fetters)

Sentence frames:

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

Sentence example:

They want to confine the prisoners

 Context examples 

I want to think and I cannot think freely when my body is confined.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A malignant epithelial neoplasm which is confined to the epithelial layer without evidence of further tissue invasion.

(Carcinoma in situ, NCI Thesaurus)

In a trice the heat from his body filled the confined space and he was asleep.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

‘Not so many as you might think,’ he answered. ‘You see it is really confined to Londoners, and to grown men.’

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When such cells are present, they remain confined to the glands.

(Borderline Ovarian Clear Cell Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)

One might have supposed him a child of the wilderness, long accustomed to live out of the confines of civilization, and about to return to his native wilds.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

An individual who is presently or not long ago worked or offered to assist without pay at an institution where persons are confined for punishment and to protect the public.

(Current or Recent Employee or Volunteer in Jail or Prison, NCI Thesaurus)

An institution where persons are confined for punishment and to protect the public.

(Correctional Institution, NCI Thesaurus)

A response indicating that an individual is confined to bed.

(Confined to Bed, NCI Thesaurus)

A morphologic finding indicating that the cutaneous melanoma is confined to the epidermis and does not invade the dermis.

(Clark Level I, NCI Thesaurus)