Word.ws English Dictionary

limit

Syllables: li·mit/ˈlɪm.ɪt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

South Asia/ˈlɪm.ɪʈ/

limit noun: a restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go or proceed. Also the ellipsis of harmonic limit.

Noun

limit (plural limits)

  1. A restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go or proceed.
    • There are several existing limits to executive power.
    • Two drinks is my limit tonight.
  2. 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.
  3. Any of several abstractions of this concept of limit.
    • Category theory defines a very general concept of limit.
  4. The cone of a diagram through which any other cone of that same diagram can factor uniquely.
  5. Fixed limit.
  6. The final, utmost, or furthest point; the border or edge.
    • the limit of a walk, of a town, or of a country
    • As eager of the chase, the maid / Beyond the forest's verdant limits strayed.1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC
  7. (obsolete) The space or thing defined by limits.
    • The archdeacon hath divided it / Into three limits very equally.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  8. (obsolete) That terminates a period of time; hence, the period itself; the full time or extent.
    • the dateless limit of thy dear exile1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to...
    • The limit of your lives is out.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  9. (obsolete) A restriction; a check or curb; a hindrance.
    • I prithee, give no limits to my tongue.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  10. (metaphysics) A determining feature; a distinguishing characteristic.
  11. The first group of riders to depart in a handicap race.
  12. (colloquial) A person who is exasperating, intolerable, astounding, etc.
    • Englehorn looked at his employer in incredulous admiration. ‘You’re the limit,’ he declared.1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 63

Adjective

limit (not comparable)

  1. Being a fixed limit game.

Verb

limit (third-person singular simple present limits, present participle limiting, simple past and past participle limited)

  1. (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.
    • I'm limiting myself to two drinks tonight.
    Antonyms:
    expand, release
  2. (intransitive) To have a limit in a particular set.
    • The sequence limits on the point a.
  3. (obsolete) To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region.
    • a limiting friar

Also used as

limit is also the ellipsis of harmonic limit.

limit meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

limit in Hindi

restriction; bound beyond which one may not go
सीमा sīmā
mathematics: value to which a sequence converges
सीमा sīmā
restrict
सीमित sīmit

limit in Tamil

வரம்பு

limit in Marathi

मर्यादेची, मर्यादित करणे

limit in Urdu

mathematics: value to which a sequence converges
حد
More languagesFewer languages
limit in Bengali
সীমা
limit in Telugu
హద్దు haddu
limit in Malayalam
പരിധി paridhi
limit in Kannada
ಮಿತಿ, ಮಿತಿಯನ್ನು, ಮಿತಿಗೊಳಿಸಲು
limit in Punjabi
ਹੱਦ, ਸੀਮਤ ਕਰੋ, ਸੀਮਾਬੱਧ ਕਰੋ
limit in Gujarati
મર્યાદા, મર્યાદિત કરો, મર્યાદિત કરવા
limit in Odia
ସୀମିତ କରନ୍ତୁ
limit in Nepali
सीमित गर्ने, सीमित गर्नुहोस्
limit in Tagalog
hanggan, hgn.
limit in Arabic
حَدّ ḥadd, نِهَايَة nihāya, حَدَّ ḥadda, حَدَّدَ ḥaddada
limit in Malay
had, batas, hinggan
limit in Indonesian
batas, limit
limit in Persian
حد hadd
limit in Thai
ขีดจำกัด kìit-jam-gàt
limit in Vietnamese
giới hạn, hạn chế
limit in Myanmar
အကန့်အသတ် a.kan.a.sat

Examples of limit in a sentence

  • It is the conductor which communicates to the inhabitants of regions beyond its limit […]1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 21, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […]...
  • No limit / Not none that I can see / No limit / Not one, not one / Not one for you or me / No limit / Well, it can go until eternity, yeah / No limits to our love, girl1978, Breakwater, “No Limit”, in Breakwater:
  • The journey down the steep incline to the harbour must have been exhilarating at times, testing the brakes on the vehicles to the limit."2021 September 8, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Electric tramways at the heart of our seaside story”, in RAIL, number 939, page 59:
  • [The Chinese government] has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

All 40 example sentences with limit

Synonyms of limit

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of limit

Forms of limit

Noun
plurallimits
Verb
third-person singular presentlimits
present participlelimiting
past participlelimited
pastlimited

Past tense of limit: limited

Plural of limit: limits

Origin of limit

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.

Words formed from limit

Phrases with limit

32 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with limit

Questions about limit

What does limit mean?
Limit means a restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go or proceed.
What is limit in Hindi?
Limit in Hindi is सीमा (sīmā), सीमित (sīmit). See Limit meaning in Hindi.
How do you use limit in a sentence?
It is the conductor which communicates to the inhabitants of regions beyond its limit […]
What part of speech is limit?
Limit can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce limit?
Limit is pronounced /ˈlɪm.ɪt/.
What is the plural of limit?
The plural of limit is limits.

Words near limit in the dictionary

  1. liming
  2. limings
  3. Limington
  4. liminocentric
  5. liminoid
  6. limit
  7. limit bid
  8. limit bids
  9. limit break
  10. limit breaks
  11. limit cardinal

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: limit (page history and authors); limit (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); limit (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); limit (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); limit (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); limit (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); limit (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); limit (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); limit (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-limit.ogg.

Cite this entry: “limit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/limit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.