limit
pronunciation
How to pronounce limit in British English:
UK [ˈlɪmɪt]
How to pronounce limit in American English:
US [ˈlɪmɪt]
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- Noun:
- the greatest possible degree of something
- final or latest limiting point
- the boundary of a specific area
- as far as something can go
- the mathematical value toward which a function goes as the independent variable approaches infinity
- the greatest amount of something that is possible or allowed
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- Verb:
- place limits on (extent or access)
- restrict or confine, "I limit you to two visits to the pub a day"
- decide upon or fix definitely
Word Origin
- limit
- limit: [14] Latin līmes originally denoted a ‘path between fields’, but it became extended metaphorically to any ‘boundary’ or ‘limit’, and that was the sense in which English acquired it (in its stem form līmit-).=> lintel
- limit (n.)
- c. 1400, "boundary, frontier," from Old French limite "a boundary," from Latin limitem (nominative limes) "a boundary, limit, border, embankment between fields," related to limen "threshold." Originally of territory; general sense from early 15c. Colloquial sense of "the very extreme, the greatest degree imaginable" is from 1904.
- limit (v.)
- late 14c., from Old French limiter "mark (a boundary), restrict; specify," from Latin limitare "to bound, limit, fix," from limes "boundary, limit" (see limit (n.)). Related: limited; limiting.
Example
- 1. That is a severe limit on religious freedom .
- 2. Here we are speaking primarily of the qualitative limit .
- 3. The industry is scrambling to limit the damage .
- 4. Q can the treasury delay reaching the debt limit ?
- 5. Limit your first get together .