See also: confiné

English

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Etymology

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From Middle French confiner, from confins, from Medieval Latin confines, from Latin confinium, from confīnis.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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confine (third-person singular simple present confines, present participle confining, simple past and past participle confined)

  1. (obsolete) To have a common boundary with; to border on. [16th–19th c.]
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC:
      Where your gloomy bounds / Confine with heaven
    • 1717, John Dryden, “Book XII”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. [], London: [] Jacob Tonson, [], →OCLC:
      Betwixt heaven and earth and skies there stands a place / Confining on all three.
    • 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford, published 2008, page 467:
      ‘Why, Sir, to be sure, such parts of Sclavonia as confine with Germany, will borrow German words; and such parts as confine with Tartary will borrow Tartar words.’
  2. (transitive) To restrict (someone or something) to a particular scope or area; to keep in or within certain bounds. [from 17th c.]

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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confine (plural confines)

  1. (chiefly in the plural) A boundary or limit.
  2. (poetic) Confinement, imprisonment.
    • a. 1917, anonymous, “Lord Bateman” (folk song) as published in Bertrand Harris Bronson (1959) The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads, vol. 1, p. 419:
      She says for you to bring her a slice of cake,
      A bottle of the best wine,
      And not to forget the fair young lady
      That did release you from close confine.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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French

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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confine

  1. inflection of confiner:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Galician

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Verb

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confine

  1. inflection of confinar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Italian

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Etymology

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From Latin cōnfīnis.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /konˈfi.ne/
  • Rhymes: -ine
  • Hyphenation: con‧fì‧ne

Noun

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confine m (plural confini)

  1. border, frontier
  2. boundary

Synonyms

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Latin

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Adjective

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cōnfīne

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of cōnfīnis

Portuguese

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Verb

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confine

  1. inflection of confinar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

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Verb

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confine

  1. inflection of confinar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative