limit
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To set a boundary or restrict how much of something is allowed
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
limuhtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɪmət
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Restrict or confine within limits
“I limit you to two visits to the pub a day.”
transitive
To restrict; to circumscribe; not to allow to go beyond a certain bound, to set boundaries.
noun
A restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go.
The final, utmost, or furthest point; the border or edge.
colloquialas "the limit"
A person who is exasperating, intolerable, astounding, etc.
Final or latest limiting point
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Word Aura is being prepared for this meaning.
More ways to use limit
- “There are limits on the amount you can bet.”noun
- “I limit you to two visits to the pub a day.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Small in range or scope.
The grammatical relation that exists when a word qualifies the meaning of the phrase.
A nonlinear electronic circuit whose output is limited in amplitude.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A principle that limits the extent of something.
Having no limits in range or scope.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A service (less exhaustive than an audit) that provides some assurance to interested parties as to the reliability of financial data.
A war whose objective is less than the unconditional defeat of the enemy.
The mathematical value toward which a function goes as the independent variable approaches infinity.
An audit of limited scope (limited in time span or confined to particular accounts etc.).
A company that is organized to give its owners limited liability.
An edition that is restricted to a specific number of copies.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Negotiations between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics opened in 1969 in Helsinki designed to limit both countries' stock of nuclear weapons.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
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Looking for a more precise alternative? “limit” can mean several things.
I don't check messages after 9 p.m., so I'll reply in the morning.I need my evenings to rest, could we keep messages to daytime?
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.