circumscribe

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Related topics: Maths

cir·cum·scribe /ˈsɜːkəmskraɪb $ ˈsɜːr-/ verb [transitiveT]

1 formalLIMIT to limit power, rights, or abilities 约束，限制 SYN restrict

The president’s power is circumscribed by Congress and the Supreme Court.

总统的权力受到国会和最高法院的制约。

2 HM technical to draw a line around something 在…周围画线

a circle circumscribed by a square

正方形的内切圆

n Grammar

Circumscribe is usually passive.

Examples from the Corpus

circumscribe• He could hardly be more circumscribed.• Otherwise, each had separately recognized, the future was circumscribed.• Their autonomy, it is true, was carefully circumscribed.• Without ciphers and diplomatic bags, espionage and counter-espionage actions were likely to be circumscribed.• All matter in the universe is encased in a spherical shell with clearly circumscribed boundaries.• In the middle of the drawing was a circle circumscribed by a square.• The church's role was tightly circumscribed by the new government.• Travel is only one of many instances of circumscribed existence.• But they are still highly circumscribed in their authority, and wholly dependent upon their salaried employment.

Origin circumscribe

(1300-1400) Latin circumscribere, from circum- (CIRCUM-) + scribere “to write, draw”

cir·cum·scribe verb →n GRAMMAR1

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