How to Use circumscribe in a Sentence

circumscribe

verb
Definition of circumscribenext
Synonyms for circumscribenext
  • The circle is circumscribed by a square.
  • RuPaul told me that his social life is circumscribed, in some ways, by design.
    — Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2024
  • The operas’ texts, like Stein’s, are also circumscribed.
    — Marcus Overton, sandiegouniontribune.com, 11 May 2017
  • All those very much circumscribe their ability to thrive.
    — Karin Wulf, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Mar. 2021
  • The idea of how a pregnant woman should appear in public wasn’t always this highly circumscribed.
    — Anne Helen Petersen, Cosmopolitan, 19 June 2017
  • These Black artists are asserting their right to public space at a time when that space is still circumscribed by race, gender and class — and can be fatal to occupy.
    — Emily Lordi, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2023
  • Real-life pairings are usually circumscribed by a person’s social sphere, and the chances of meeting a total stranger are low.
    — The Economist, 12 Sep. 2019
  • The culmination of decades of research, a reservoir of hope for thousands, these oblong tablets were supposed to transform her life, a life circumscribed by illness and the specter of early death.
    — Felice J. Freyer — Boston Globe, STAT, 20 Sep. 2023
  • If he is convicted of any of the charges, whether at trial or through a plea, his role would be severely circumscribed under House rules, and he would likely be compelled to resign.
    — Michael Gold, New York Times, 10 May 2023
  • The law, known as the Online News Act, is one part of a broad and contentious effort by the Canadian government to regulate the digital sphere and circumscribe the power of tech giants.
    — Amanda Coletta and Gerrit De Vynck, Anchorage Daily News, 23 June 2023
  • Our identities and sense of worth were not circumscribed, but are enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves.
    — Li Zhou, Vox, 1 Sep. 2018
  • My current contact with her is very circumscribed by my desire to respect my husband’s wishes.
    — Amy Dickinson, The Denver Post, 28 Mar. 2017
  • In practice, this would mean, for example, that the Baltic states and Poland would enjoy the same large, but ultimately circumscribed, degree of sovereignty as, say, Canada does.
    — Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 3 May 2023
  • On small campuses, this can mean his life is completely circumscribed.
    — Emily Yoffe, The Atlantic, 6 Sep. 2017
  • After six months of clashes on the streets of Hong Kong, one thing is clear: The act of protesting is no longer circumscribed by the rituals of large-scale street demonstrations, rallies in public squares, or throwing petrol bombs.
    — Isabella Steger, Quartz, 28 Dec. 2019
  • Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves.
    — Natalie Andrews, WSJ, 27 Aug. 2018
  • However, since Messrs Brin and Page retain control via a dual-class share structure, his freedom will be circumscribed.
    — The Economist, 4 Dec. 2019
  • There are times when private actors and places can be treated like government ones, such that the First Amendment can circumscribe that company’s practices.
    — Emily Stewart, Vox, 23 Aug. 2018
  • The cover featured a close-up of British model of the moment Jean Shrimpton, with her face circumscribed by a Matisse-like pink cutout that vaguely suggested the curves of an astronaut’s helmet.
    — Stephen Mooallem, Harper's BAZAAR, 9 June 2017
  • The softer those talks look the more likely that the government will have its majority circumscribed by the hard Brexit-leaning lawmakers.
    — Simon Kennedy, Bloomberg.com, 22 June 2017
  • Thirty-six years later Spain is a mature parliamentary monarchy in which the Crown’s role is strictly circumscribed.
    — Ana Palacio, WSJ, 5 Oct. 2017
  • At the same time, at least a half-dozen states have enacted laws giving parents more power over which books appear in libraries or circumscribing students’ access to books.
    — Hannah Natanson, Anchorage Daily News, 24 May 2023
  • And because mostly white men have decided what ends up in the Times crossword, its content is often circumscribed by the biases of those doing the constructing.
    — Sophia Stewart, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2024
  • The election results will also affect the make-up of the committees, tightly circumscribed by Beijing, which every five years choose the chief executive.
    — The Economist, 21 Nov. 2019
  • Hizbut, already banned or circumscribed in some countries, is estimated to have tens of thousands of members in Indonesia.
    — Stephen Wright, The Seattle Times, 19 July 2017
  • That these games would be circumscribed by politics was a given from the outset because of regional rivalries.
    — CBS News, 25 Feb. 2018
  • State media reports of major events tend to be tightly circumscribed by the Communist leadership.
    — Kwanwoo Jun, WSJ, 2 Dec. 2018
  • One of the crucial steps in destroying a democracy and reshaping a society is to capture the referees and circumscribe their power.
    — Brynn Tannehill, The New Republic, 17 Oct. 2022
  • The Russians created a similar situation in early 2022, storming across the northern border, occupying villages and small towns, and reaching the ring road that circumscribes Kharkiv.
    — Constant Méheut, New York Times, 12 May 2024
  • The majority of policies are restrictive in nature: 66 percent circumscribe or ban lessons and discussions on some of society’s most sensitive topics, while 34 percent require or expand them.
    — Clara Ence Morse, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'circumscribe.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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