English → Latin
“circumscribe” in Latin
fīniōto finish, terminate; to set, appoint; to limit, boundinclūdōto shut up or in, confine, enclose, imprison, keep in; to obstruct, restrain, hinder; to limit, controlcoërceōto enclose on all sides, hold together; surround, encompass; to curb, restrain, tame, correct, appease; to restrain, keecircumscrībōto draw a line around, enclose in a circle, circumscribe; to enclose, limit, bound, restrain, hem in; to abate, subsideterminōto mark off (by boundaries), set bounds to; bound, limit; to define, fix, determine, circumscribe; to close, finish, enddēterminōto delimit (set bounds to); to confine (within limits); to define
The English word circumscribe itself goes back to Latin scrībō, through circumscrībō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
circumscribe
finire: includere: coercere: circumscribere (especially to put limits to the exercise of an office): terminare: determinare (Liv.): terminis sepire (Cic.). To circumscribe anybody’s power, finire potestatem (Liv.): the power of the tribunes, tribunos plebis circum scribere (Caes.): to be circumscribed within narrow limits, in exiguum gyrum compulsum esse (Cic.). To circumscribe within a narrow field, in exiguum angustumque concludere. To be circumscribed, certarum rerum cancellis circimscriptum esse. [Vid. LIMIT, RESTRAIN)
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for circumscribe?
- The usual Latin words for “circumscribe” are fīniō, inclūdō, coërceō; also circumscrībō, terminō, dēterminō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.