circumscribe

Definition

To draw a line around; to encircle.

Etymology

From Latin circumscrībō, from circum (“around”) + scrībō (“write”). By surface analysis, circum- + scribe.

Example Sentences

• ""Well, I promise you to circumscribe her conquests as much as possible by extending my own," returned Henrietta. "It will be an easy task; for Miss Churchill does not do 'the honours of her eyes.' I often tell her her beauty is quite wasted upon her.""
• "It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: […]; perhaps to moralise on the oneness or fragility of the planet, or to see humanity for the small and circumscribed thing that it is; […]."