ambit

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See also: àmbit

English[edit]

WOTD – 2 February 2021

Etymology[edit]

From Late Middle English ambyte, borrowed from Latin ambitus (“circuit; circumference, perimeter; area within a perimeter; ground around a building; cycle, orbit, revolution”) (compare Late Latin ambitus (“neighbourhood; wall of a castle, monastery, or town; cloister; parish boundary”)), from ambīre + -tus (suffix forming verbal nouns from verbs).[1] Ambīre is the present active infinitive of ambiō (“to go around, to skirt; to encircle, surround”), from ambi- (“prefix meaning ‘both, on both sides’”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- (“front; face; forehead”)) + eō (“to go, move”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”)). The English word is a doublet of ambitus.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

ambit (plural ambits)

  1. (by extension)
    1. The extent of actions, thoughts, or the meaning of words, etc.
    2. The area or sphere of control and influence of something.
      • 1913, Gilbert Parker, “‘The Alpine Fellow’”, in The Judgment House […], uniform edition, Toronto, Ont.: The Copp, Clark Co., →OCLC, book IV, pages 412–413:
        He had invited Destiny to sweep him up in her reaping, by placing himself in the ambit of her scythe; but the sharp reaping-hook had passed him by.
  2. (archaic) The boundary around a building, town, region, etc.
  3. (archaic, rare) The circumference of something circular; also, an arc; a circuit, an orbit.
  4. (obsolete) Chiefly in the plural form ambits: the open space surrounding a building, town, etc.; the grounds or precincts of a place.
    Synonym: (of a house) curtilage

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

circumference of something circular — see circumference
arc — see arc
circuit, orbit — see circuit,‎ orbit

References[edit]

  1. ^ “ambit, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2020; “ambit, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Verb[edit]

ambit

  1. third-person singular present active indicative of ambiō

Polish[edit]

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology[edit]

Learned borrowing from Latin ambitus.[1][2] First attested in 1577.[3]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

ambit m inan

  1. (architecture) ambulatory
    Synonym: obejście
  2. (architecture) retrochoir
    ambit katedralnego ― cathedral retrochoir
    ambit katedry ― a cathedral's retrochoir
  3. (archaic) ambition
    Synonym: ambicja
  4. (archaic, architecture) cloister
    Synonyms: ganek, krużganek

Declension[edit]

Declension of ambit
singular plural
nominative ambit ambity
genitive ambitu ambitów
dative ambitowi ambitom
accusative ambit ambity
instrumental ambitem ambitami
locative ambicie ambitach
vocative ambicie ambity

Derived terms[edit]

adjective
adverb
verbs

Related terms[edit]

adjectives
adverbs
nouns

References[edit]

  1. ^ Mirosław Bańko, Lidia Wiśniakowska (2021) “ambit”, in Wielki słownik wyrazów obcych, →ISBN
  2. ^ Witold Doroszewski, editor (1958–1969), “ambit”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), Warszawa: PWN
  3. ^ Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “ambit”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]

Further reading[edit]

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