- limit
- [[t]lɪ̱mɪt[/t]]
♦♦limits, limiting, limited1) N-COUNT: usu sing, usu with supp A limit is the greatest amount, extent, or degree of something that is possible.
Her love for him was being tested to its limits...
There is no limit to how much fresh fruit you can eat in a day...
Firefighters are being stretched to the limit as fire sweeps through the drought-stricken state.
2) N-COUNT: usu with supp A limit of a particular kind is the largest or smallest amount of something such as time or money that is allowed because of a rule, law, or decision.The three month time limit will be up in mid-June...
The economic affairs minister announced limits on petrol sales.
3) N-COUNT: with supp The limit of an area is its boundary or edge....the city limits of Baghdad.
4) N-PLURAL: usu N of n The limits of a situation are the facts involved in it which make only some actions or results possible.She has to work within the limits of a fairly tight budget...
He outlined the limits of British power.
Syn:confines5) VERB If you limit something, you prevent it from becoming greater than a particular amount or degree.[V n] He limited payments on the country's foreign debt...
[V n to n] The view was that the economy would grow by 2.25 per cent. This would limit unemployment to around 2.5 million.
Syn:6) VERB If you limit yourself to something, or if someone or something limits you, the number of things that you have or do is reduced.[V pron-refl to n/-ing] It is now accepted that men should limit themselves to 20 units of alcohol a week...
[V n to n/-ing] Voters cut councillors' pay and limited them to one staff member each. [Also V pron-refl]
Derived words:limiting ADJ-GRADEDThe conditions laid down to me were not too limiting.
7) VERB: usu passive If something is limited to a particular place or group of people, it exists only in that place, or is had or done only by that group.[be V-ed to n/-ing] The protests were not limited to New York...
[be V-ed to n/-ing] Entry to this prize draw is limited to UK residents.
8) → See also , limited9) PHRASE: v-link PHR, oft PHR to n If an area or a place is off limits, you are not allowed to go there.A one-mile area around the wreck is still off limits...
These establishments are off limits to ordinary citizens.
Syn:out of bounds10) PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v If you say that something is off limits, you mean that you are not allowed to do it.Smoking was off limits everywhere.
11) PHRASE: usu v-link PHR If someone is over the limit, they have drunk more alcohol than they are legally allowed to when driving a vehicle. [BRIT]If police breathalyse me and find I am over the limit I face a long ban and a crippling fine...
He was found to be three times over the limit.
12) PHRASE: V inflects If you say the sky is the limit, you mean that there is nothing to prevent someone or something from being very successful.They have found that, in terms of both salary and career success, the sky is the limit.
13) PHRASE: PHR with cl If you add within limits to a statement, you mean that it is true or applies only when talking about reasonable or normal situations.In the circumstances we'll tell you what we can, within limits, of course, and in confidence.
Syn:within reason
English dictionary. 2008.
