confine

See also: confiné

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (verb) enPR: kənfīnʹ, IPA^(key): /kənˈfaɪn/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (noun)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒnfaɪn/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • (US) enPR: känʹfīn, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnfaɪn/
• Rhymes: -aɪn

Verb

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 2”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     Where your gloomy bounds / Confine with heaven

   • 1717, John Dryden, “Book XII”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 731548838:

     Betwixt heaven and earth and skies there stands a place / Confining on all three.

   • 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford 2008, p. 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.]
   • c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:

     Now let not nature's hand / Keep the wild flood confined! let order die!

   • 1680, John Dryden, Ovid’s Epistles translated by several hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Preface,^[1]

     He is to confine himself to the compass of numbers and the slavery of rhyme.

Translations

to restrict; to keep within bounds

• Albanian: ngujoj (sq)
• Bulgarian: огранича́вам (bg) (ograničávam)
• Catalan: confinar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 局限 (zh) (júxiàn)

• Czech: poutat, omezovat (cs), tísnit (cs), omezit (cs) pf
• Dutch: begrenzen (nl), inperken (nl), beperken (nl)
• Finnish: (to restrict) rajoittaa (fi), (to shut/keep in a limited space/area) rajata (fi)
• French: confiner (fr)
• German: beschränken (de)
• Greek: περιορίζω (el) (periorízo)

  Ancient: κατακλείω (katakleíō)

• Hungarian: korlátoz (hu)
• Japanese: 限る (かぎる, kagiru)
• Latin: compescō, inclūdō
• Maori: whakatiki, whakatina, hamaruru
• Norwegian: begrense (no)
• Occitan: confinar (oc)
• Persian: محصور کردن‎ (mahsur kardan), حبس کردن‎ (fa) (habs kardan)
• Portuguese: confinar (pt)
• Russian: ограни́чивать (ru) impf (ograníčivatʹ), ограни́чить (ru) pf (ograníčitʹ)
• Spanish: confinar (es), encorsetar (es)
• Swedish: begränsa (sv), inskränka (sv)
• Telugu: పరిమితము (te) (parimitamu), పరిమితము చేయు (parimitamu cēyu), నిర్బంధించు (te) (nirbandhiñcu)
• Vietnamese: nhốt (vi)

detain — see detain

lock up — see lock up

arrest — see arrest

imprison — see imprison

incarcerate — see incarcerate

Noun

confine (plural confines)

1. (chiefly in the plural) A boundary or limit.

Synonyms

• (limit): border, bound, limit

Derived terms

• confineless

Translations

limit

• Bulgarian: граници (bg) (granici), предел (bg) (predel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 界限 (zh) (jièxiàn)

• Dutch: limiet (nl)
• Finnish: raja (fi)
• French: limite (fr) f

• German: Begrenzung (de) f
• Greek: όριο (el) n (ório)
• Korean: 감금 (ko) (gamgeum)
• Portuguese: confim (pt) m
• Russian: грани́ца (ru) f (graníca), преде́л (ru) m (predél), лими́т (ru) m (limít)
• Spanish: confín (es) m, raya (es) f

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.fin/
• Homophones: confinent, confines

Verb

confine

1. first-person singular present indicative of confiner
2. third-person singular present indicative of confiner
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of confiner
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of confiner
5. second-person singular imperative of confiner

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Italian

Etymology

From Latin confīnis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /konˈfi.ne/

Noun

confine m (plural confini)

1. border, frontier
2. boundary

Synonyms

• limite

Related terms

• confinante
• confinare
• confinario
• confino

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Latin

Adjective

cōnfīne

1. nominative neuter singular of cōnfīnis
2. accusative neuter singular of cōnfīnis
3. vocative neuter singular of cōnfīnis

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Portuguese

Verb

confine

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of confinar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of confinar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of confinar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of confinar

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Spanish

Verb

confine

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of confinar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of confinar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of confinar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of confinar.