circumscribe
/ˈsɜː.kəm.skɹaɪb/
"circumscribe" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“circumscribe” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To draw a line around; to encircle.
Corpus desk
Index EN-circumscribe · circumscribe · English
circumscribe · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | circumscribe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈsɜː.kəm.skɹaɪb/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “circumscribe” in English
Rare enough to double-check
circumscribe is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈsɜː.kəm.skɹaɪb/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for circumscribe in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin circumscrībō, from circum (“around”) + scrībō (“write”). By surface analysis, circum- + scribe. The correct English form is circumscribe, spelled C-I-R-C-U-M-S-C-R-I-B-E.
Definition
- 1To draw a line around; to encircle.
- 2To limit narrowly; to restrict.
- 3To draw the smallest circle or higher-dimensional sphere that has (a polyhedron, polygon, etc.) in its interior.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how circumscribe appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"Well, I promise you to circumscribe her conquests as much as possible by extending my own," returned Henrietta. "It will be an easy task; for Miss Churchill does not do 'the honours of her eyes.' I often tell her her beauty is quite wasted upon her."
It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: […]; perhaps to moralise on the oneness or fragility of the planet, or to see humanity for the small and circumscribed thing that it is; […].
Etymology
From Latin circumscrībō, from circum (“around”) + scrībō (“write”). By surface analysis, circum- + scribe.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.