Enclose vs Circumscribe - What's the difference?
enclose | circumscribe | Related terms |
To surround with a wall, fence, etc.
To insert into a container, usually an envelope or package.
To hold or contain.
To draw a line around; to encircle.
To limit narrowly; to restrict.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
, volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (geometry) To draw the smallest circle or higher-dimensional sphere that has (a polyhedron, polygon, etc.) in its interior.
Enclose is a related term of circumscribe.
As verbs the difference between enclose and circumscribe
is that enclose is to surround with a wall, fence, etc while circumscribe is to draw a line around; to encircle.enclose
English
Alternative forms
* (l)Verb
(enclos)Usage notes
* Until about 1820, it was common to spell this word, and the derived terms encloser'' and ''enclosure'', with ''in-'' (i.e. as ''inclose'', ''incloser'', ''inclosure''). Since 1820, the forms with ''en- have predominated.[//books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=enclose%2Cinclose%2Cencloser%2Cincloser%2Cenclosure%2Cinclosure&year_start=1650&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cenclose%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cinclose%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cencloser%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cincloser%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cenclosure%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cinclosure%3B%2Cc0 Google Books Ngram Data]See also
* encircle * encloser * enclosableReferences
circumscribe
English
Verb
(circumscrib)Fantasy of navigation, passage=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; […].}}