“limits” is a form of
limit
/ˈlɪm.ɪt/ noun, adjective, verb
- noun A restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go or proceed. “There are several existing limits to executive power.”
- noun (mathematics) 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). “The sequence of reciprocals has zero as its limit.”
- noun (mathematics) Any of several abstractions of this concept of limit. “Category theory defines a very general concept of limit.”
- noun (category theory) The cone of a diagram through which any other cone of that same diagram can factor uniquely.
- noun (poker) Fixed limit.
- noun The final, utmost, or furthest point; the border or edge. “the limit of a walk, of a town, or of a country”
- noun (obsolete) The space or thing defined by limits.
- noun (obsolete) That terminates a period of time; hence, the period itself; the full time or extent.
- adjective (poker) Being a fixed limit game.
- verb (transitive) To restrict; to circumscribe; not to allow to go beyond a certain bound, to set boundaries. “We need to limit the power of the executive.”
- verb (mathematics, intransitive) To have a limit in a particular set. “The sequence limits on the point a.”
- verb (obsolete) To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region. “a limiting friar”
Synonyms
inverse limit projective limit bound boundary limitation restriction threshold rim check straiten behedge blunt crimp foreclose delay difficult diminish forestay retroact interfere terminus ad quem terminal point demarcation demarcation line limit point point of accumulation restrict restrain trammel confine
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English limit, from Old French limit, from oblique stem of Latin līmes, līmit- (“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.
From Middle English limiten, from Old French limiter, from Latin līmitō (“to bound, limit, fix, determine”), from līmes; see noun.
Webster’s 1913
- noun That which terminates, circumscribes, restrains, or confines; the bound, border, or edge; the utmost extent; as, the limit of a walk, of a town, of a country; the limits of human knowledge or endeavor.
- noun The space or thing defined by limits.
- verb To apply a limit to, or set a limit for; to terminate, circumscribe, or restrict, by a limit or limits; as, to limit the acreage of a crop; to limit the issue of paper money; to limit one's ambitions or aspirations; to limit the meaning of a word. Limiting parallels (Astron.), those parallels of latitude between which only an occultation of a star or planet by the moon, in a given case, can occur.
- verb To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region; as, a limiting friar. [Obs.]
Etymology [From L. limes, limitis: cf. F.limite; -or from E. limit, v. See Limit, v. t.]
Etymology [F. limiter, L. limitare, fr. limes, limitis, limit; prob. akin to limen threshold, E. eliminate; cf. L. limus sidelong.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “limit”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details