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. (transitive) To restrict; to keep within bounds; to shut or keep in a limited space or area.
   • 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!

   • (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

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

2. To have a common boundary; to border; to lie contiguous; to touch; followed by on or with.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 2”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     Where your gloomy bounds / Confine with heaven

   • (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

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

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, 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
• 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

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁ/
• 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

---

Italian

Etymology

From Latin confīnis.

Noun

confine m (plural confini)

1. border, frontier
2. boundary

Synonyms

• limite

Related terms

• confinante
• confinare
• confinario
• confino

---

Latin

Adjective

cōnfīne

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

---

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

---

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.