delimit

English

Etymology

From French délimiter, from Late Latin dēlīmitō (“I mark out the limits”), from dē- + līmitō (“I limit, I bound”); see limit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈlɪmɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪmɪt

Verb

delimit (third-person singular simple present delimits, present participle delimiting, simple past and past participle delimited)

1. (transitive, literal, figurative) To mark or fix the limits of.

   Near-synonyms: (literal) demarcate; (figurative) limit, constrain

   Data items in the computer file were delimited by commas.

   The square brackets delimit the list, and individual elements are separated by commas.^WB

   The possibilities for new automotive features are vast but are practically delimited by costs of development and manufacturing.

Derived terms

• delimitative

Related terms

• limit
• limitation
• delimitation
• delimiter

Translations

to mark or fix the limits of

• Bulgarian: определям граница (opredeljam granica)
• Danish: afgrænse
• Finnish: rajata (fi)
• Galician: derregar, estremar (gl), demarcar
• German: eingrenzen (de)
• Greek: οριοθετώ (el) (oriothetó), οροθετώ (el) (orothetó)
• Irish: teorannaigh
• Italian: delimitare (it), demarcare (it), fissare (it)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سنور پێدان (snur pêdan)

• Portuguese: delimitar (pt)
• Russian: разграни́чивать (ru) impf (razgraníčivatʹ), размежёвывать impf (razmežóvyvatʹ)
• Spanish: delimitar (es)

to demarcate

• Bulgarian: разделям (bg) (razdeljam), разграничавам (bg) (razgraničavam)
• Finnish: rajata (fi)
• Portuguese: deliminar, demarcar (pt)
• Spanish: delimitar (es), demarcar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} delimita (ro)

See also

• unlimit (to remove limits)

Further reading

• “delimit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “delimit”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• limited, melitid