English Explanatory Dictionary

limit

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go or proceed.
  2. A value to which a sequence converges. Equivalently, the common value of the upper limit and the lower limit of a sequence: if the upper and lower limits are different, then the sequence has no limit (i.e., does not converge).
  3. Any of several abstractions of this concept of limit.
  4. The cone of a diagram through which any other cone of that same diagram can factor uniquely.
  5. Fixed limit.
  6. The final, utmost, or furthest point; the border or edge.
  7. The space or thing defined by limits.
  8. That terminates a period of time; hence, the period itself; the full time or extent.
  9. A restriction; a check or curb; a hindrance.
  10. A determining feature; a distinguishing characteristic.
  11. The first group of riders to depart in a handicap race.
  12. A person who is exasperating, intolerable, astounding, etc.
adj
  1. Being a fixed limit game.
verb
  1. To restrict; to circumscribe; not to allow to go beyond a certain bound, to set boundaries.
  2. To have a limit in a particular set.
  3. To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region.

Pronunciation

/ˈlɪm.ɪt/ en-us-limit.ogg /ˈlɪm.ɪʈ/ /lɪmʈ/

Word forms

limit limits limiting limited

Etymology

From Middle English limit, from Old French limit, from Latin līmes (“a cross-path or balk between fields, hence a boundary, boundary line or wall, any path or road, border, limit”). Displaced native Old English ġemǣre. Doublet of limes.

Synonyms

bound boundary limitation restriction threshold rim inverse limit projective limit check straiten behedge blunt crimp delay difficult diminish forestay interfere intervene forslow frustrate get in the way hamper handicap hinder hold up hurt impair impede incommode lessen let mar obstruct overslaugh preclude prevene prevent prohibit reduce restrict retard slow down stay stymie thwart thwarten umbeset undermine weaken worsen guard govern smother bind chasten inhibit contain vanquish cork

Antonyms

expand release

Related words

bound function

Derived words

age limit antilimit Armstrong limit Atterberg limit Betz limit blowdown limit Bremermann's limit cash limit central limit theorem Chandrasekhar limit Chu-Harrington limit city limit(s) colimit credit limit Dawes resolution limit Deutsch limit diffraction limit direct limit dizzy limit Eddington limit elastic limit Gabrielli-von Karman limit Gabrielli-von Kármán limit giddy limit Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin limit GZK limit Hayashi limit Hayflick limit in the limit Kármán limit Karman limit Landauer limit limital limitarian limitation limit bid limit break limit cardinal limit case limit comparison test limit cycle limit down limit inferior limitive limitless limit line limit of positive stability limit order limit ordinal limit point limit screw limit situation limit superior limit switch limit up lintel lower limit McDowell limit McQ limit McQuary limit
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