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Define vs Limit - What's the difference?

define | limit |

In context|obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between define and limit

is that define is (obsolete) to settle, decide (an argument etc) while limit is (obsolete) to beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region.

In context|mathematics|lang=en terms the difference between define and limit

is that define is (mathematics) to establish the referent of a term or notation while limit is (mathematics) any of several abstractions of this concept of limit.

As verbs the difference between define and limit

is that define is to determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly while limit is to restrict; not to allow to go beyond a certain bound.

As nouns the difference between define and limit

is that define is (computing|programming) a kind of macro in source code that replaces one text string with another wherever it occurs while limit is a restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go.

As an adjective limit is

(poker) being a fixed limit game.

define

English

(Definition)

Verb

(defin)
  • To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly.
  • * Sir (Isaac Newton)
  • Ringsvery distinct and well defined .
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Lee S. Langston
  • , title= The Adaptable Gas Turbine , passage=Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo'', meaning ''vortex , and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.}}
  • (obsolete) To settle, decide (an argument etc.).
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , IV.3:
  • These warlike Champions, all in armour shine, / Assembled were in field the chalenge to define .
  • To express the essential nature of something.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
  • , volume=101, issue=3, page=178, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Crinkly Curves , passage=Cantor defined a one-to-one correspondence between the points of the square and the points of the line segment. Every point in the square was associated with a single point in the segment; every point in the segment was matched with a unique point in the square.}}
  • To state the meaning of a word, phrase, sign, or symbol.
  • To describe, explain, or make definite and clear.
  • To demark sharply the outlines or limits of an area or concept.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April, author=(Jan Sapp)
  • , volume=100, issue=2, page=164, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Race Finished , passage=Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?}}
  • (mathematics) To establish the referent of a term or notation.
  • Derived terms

    * definable * definer

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (computing, programming) A kind of macro in source code that replaces one text string with another wherever it occurs.
  • * 1996 , James Gosling, Henry McGilton, The Java Language Environment
  • From the computer programming perspective, Java looks like C and C++ while discarding the overwhelming complexities of those languages, such as typedefs, defines , preprocessor, unions, pointers, and multiple inheritance.
  • * 1999 , Ian Joyner, Objects unencapsulated: Java, Eiffel, and C++ (page 309)
  • Anyone who has attempted to do OO programming in a conventional language using defines will find out that it is impossible to realize the benefits easily, if at all, without compiler support.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    limit

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl), from (etyl), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go.
  • There are several existing limits to executive power.
    Two drinks is my limit tonight.
  • * 1839 , (Charles Dickens), Nicholas Nickleby , chapter 21:
  • It is the conductor which communicates to the inhabitants of regions beyond its limit ,
  • * 1922 , , Ulysses , episode 17:
  • Ever he would wander, selfcompelled, to the extreme limit of his cometary orbit, beyond the fixed stars and variable suns and telescopic planets, astronomical waifs and strays, to the extreme boundary of space,
  • * 2012 March 6, Dan McCrum, Nicole Bullock and Guy Chazan, Financial Times , “Utility buyout loses power in shale gas revolution”:
  • At the time, there seemed to be no limit to the size of ever-larger private equity deals, with banks falling over each other to arrange financing on generous terms and to invest money from their own private equity arms.
  • (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.
  • (mathematics) Any of several abstractions of this concept of limit.
  • Category theory defines a very general concept of limit.
  • (category theory) Given diagram F'' : ''J'' → ''C'', a cone (''L'', ''φ'') from ''L'' ∈ Ob(''C'') to ''F'' is the ''limit'' of ''F'' if it has the universal property that for any other cone (''N'', ''ψ'') from ''N'' ∈ Ob(''C'') to ''F'' there is a unique morphism ''u'' : ''N'' → ''L'' such that for all ''X'' ∈ Ob(''J ), \phi_X \circ u = \psi_X .
  • (poker) Short for fixed limit.
  • The final, utmost, or furthest point; the border or edge.
  • the limit of a walk, of a town, or of a country
  • * Alexander Pope
  • As eager of the chase, the maid / Beyond the forest's verdant limits strayed.
  • (obsolete) The space or thing defined by limits.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The archdeacon hath divided it / Into three limits very equally.
  • (obsolete) That which terminates a period of time; hence, the period itself; the full time or extent.
  • * Shakespeare
  • the dateless limit of thy dear exile
  • * Shakespeare
  • The limit of your lives is out.
  • (obsolete) A restriction; a check or curb; a hindrance.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I prithee, give no limits to my tongue.
  • (logic, metaphysics) A determining feature; a distinguishing characteristic.
  • Synonyms
    * (restriction) bound, boundary, limitation, restriction
    Derived terms
    * age limit * central limit theorem * city limits * elastic limit * in the limit * limit down * limit up * limitation * limitless * lower limit * outer limit * the sky is the limit * to the limit * time limit * unlimited * upper limit
    Descendants
    * German: (l)

    See also

    * bound * function

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (poker) Being a fixed limit game.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) ; see noun.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To restrict; not to allow to go beyond a certain bound.
  • *
  • [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.
  • (mathematics) To have a limit in a particular set.
  • (obsolete) To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region.
  • Synonyms
    * (restrict) cap; restrict; withstrain