[syn: confining, constraining, constrictive, limiting, restricting]
2. strictly limiting the reference of a modified word or phrase;
- Example: "the restrictive clause in `Each made a list of the books that had influenced him' limits the books on the list to only those particular ones defined by the clause";
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Limit \Lim"it\ (l[i^]m"[i^]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Limited; p.
pr. & vb. n. Limiting.] [F. limiter, L. limitare, fr.
limes, limitis, limit; prob. akin to limen threshold, E.
eliminate; cf. L. limus sidelong.]
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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
limiting
adj 1: restricting the scope or freedom of action [syn:
confining, constraining, constrictive, limiting,
restricting]
2: strictly limiting the reference of a modified word or phrase;
"the restrictive clause in `Each made a list of the books
that had influenced him' limits the books on the list to only
those particular ones defined by the clause"
n 1: the grammatical relation that exists when a word qualifies
the meaning of the phrase [syn: modification,
qualifying, limiting]