Library / English Dictionary

CIRCUMSCRIBE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Restrict or confine within limits

Example:

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

Synonyms:

circumscribe; confine to; limit

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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 2

Meaning:

Draw a line around

Example:

He drew a circle around the points

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 (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 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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A benign circumscribed neoplasm arising from the subcutaneous tissue of the neck.

(Nuchal-Type Fibroma, NCI Thesaurus)

A well circumscribed lesion of the bone, most frequently arising from the posterior mandible.

(Ossifying Fibroma, NCI Thesaurus)

Localized circumscribed purulent area of inflammation in the periodontal tissue.

(Periodontal Abscess, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A WHO grade I, relatively circumscribed, slowly growing, often cystic astrocytoma occurring in children and young adults.

(Pilocytic Astrocytoma, NCI Thesaurus/WHO)

An extremely rare, WHO grade I, circumscribed and slow-growing tumor that arises from the neurohypophysis or infundibulum and described in adults.

(Pituicytoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A benign circumscribed tumor characterized by small spindle cells, rounded hyperchromatic cells and multinucleated giant cells with radially arranged nuclei.

(Pleomorphic Lipoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A neoplastic process characterized by a diffuse poorly circumscribed overgrowth of adipose tissue in the pelvic region.

(Pelvic Lipomatosis, NCI Thesaurus)

A WHO grade I, indolent and relatively circumscribed brain tumor.

(Papillary Glioneuronal Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)

A mucinous cystic tumor of the ovary characterized by the presence of one or more well circumscribed solid nodules in the wall of the cysts (mural nodules) that protrude into the lumen.

(Ovarian Mucinous Cystic Tumor with Mural Nodules, NCI Thesaurus)

A rare, benign and well circumscribed stromal tumor of the ovary.

(Ovarian Stromal-Leydig Cell Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)