1
Core action
Restrict someone or something within a limited area, range, subject, or boundary.
Example
The researchers confined their analysis to adults over sixty.
confine
/kənˈfaɪn/ · kun-FYNEverb
Restrict someone or something within a limited area, range, subject, or boundary.
Use confine to express this relationship precisely: restrict someone or something within a limited area, range, subject, or boundary.
What confine Really Means
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
2
Common construction
Use this expression in its normal grammatical frame so the relationship between the surrounding ideas remains explicit.
Example
Flood barriers confined the water to the eastern channel.
3
Reasoning effect
It tells the reader how to interpret the timing, scope, evidence, contrast, condition, or consequence in the statement.
Example
The article does not confine its discussion to economic effects.
Use confine Naturally
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
The researchers confined their analysis to adults over sixty.
Flood barriers confined the water to the eastern channel.
The article does not confine its discussion to economic effects.
Precision Matters
Confine overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
confine
vs.Means restrict someone or something within a limited area, range, subject, or boundary.
circumvent
Means to find a way around or avoid an obstacle.
confine
vs.Means restrict someone or something within a limited area, range, subject, or boundary.
preclude
Means to prevent something from happening or make it impossible.
confine
vs.Means restrict someone or something within a limited area, range, subject, or boundary.
impede
Means to prevent, obstruct, or slow progress.
confine
vs.Means restrict someone or something within a limited area, range, subject, or boundary.
with the exception of
Means excluding the person, thing, or case named.
Test confine in Context
The report deliberately restricts the range of its conclusions.
1
Because the records are incomplete, the report will ___ its conclusions to the period after 1950.