to confine
215
4.2
- verb
- /kənˈfaɪn/
:
confinar
- The prisoners were confined to their cells for 23 hours a day.
- confined to a single
- mostly confined
- mainly confined
He he's got them confined, dependent upon him for food.
- He he's got them confined, dependent upon him for food.
- And so we need a stronger force to keep the plasma together to confine it.
- Corral to gather together and confine.
- The Allied fleets under French leadership had pretty much confined the Austro Hungarian Navy into the Adriatic Sea.
- Prisons are too often out of public view, where we can easily ignore their presence and forget about those who are confined.
- I confined myself to my home in San Diego, CA and hid from everybody.
- So at this point, let us confine ourselves to three main points.
- You know, you could make a Target wish list or an Amazon wish list, but then you're confined to one single source.
- He's not trying to confine himself to claims about how measurements come out.
- And, and almost all of them, believe it or not, were confined to retirement facilities and prisons.
Examples
-
You have ideas that need to be confined.
-
I would appreciate it if you would confine yourself to the greenhouse I gave you.
-
Why would I confine my life to please others?
-
But we have a problem if we confine that pressure too much, things can go wrong.
-
I just confine it to South America when I'm down there.
-
How long were you confined after surgery? - Nine days.
-
Their play was quiet and confined to a small area of the dining room.
Fiction book (1992) -
You will confine yourself to our royal suite at the Waldorf-Astoria.
-
Pity the poor souls confined to the four walls of a single reality.
Academic text (2011) -
My poetry experience has always been confined to a scholastic atmosphere, with one exception.
Academic text (2011)
Synonyms
∞
1.9
To stop yourself from showing a feeling or reaction
∞
2.1
To control how much or how often something happens
388
3.5
To keep something dangerous from spreading or getting worse
361
3.1
Limit how much people can use or access something
314
4.2
To make someone stay in one place or situation
169
5.9
To keep someone with the police for questioning
86
4.6
Hold a person or thing so it cannot move freely
84
3.7
Surround something completely, often with a wall or fence
73
3.5
To limit or control something to stop it getting worse
64
5.6
To limit what someone can do or how they can act
35
6.2
To restrain someone with chains or limit their freedom
11
5.3
To form the edge or limit of an area
8
4.7
To stop a person or thing from moving, acting freely and making choices
6
6.7
Surround a person or thing so they cannot leave
6
8.1
To keep something within certain limits
5
7.5
To reduce or control how much of something is allowed
1
9.9
To limit someone's freedom or ability to act
To limit someone's freedom or creativity
To keep a person, idea, or feeling within strict limits
Antonyms
Phrasal Verbs
How Restrictive
Surface Forms
Morphology
confine = con + fine
Although historically analyzable as con- + fin(e), the element 'fin(e)' is not a productive standalone English word meaning 'limit', so learners cannot reliably derive the meaning from familiar English components.
Etymology
The word confine comes from Latin parts con- ('with') and finis ('end' or 'limit'), the same root you see in final and finish. So to confine someone is to keep them within an 'end' or 'limit', which is why it means to limit movement or keep someone in a small space.