different between circumscribe vs environ

English

Etymology

From Latin circumscr?b?, from circum (“around”) + scr?b? (“write”). Surface analysis: circum- +? scribe.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?s??.k?m.sk?a?b/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?s?.k?m.sk?a?b/
• Rhymes: -a?b

Verb

circumscribe (third-person singular simple present circumscribes, present participle circumscribing, simple past and past participle circumscribed)

1. To draw a line around; to encircle.
2. To limit narrowly; to restrict.
3. (geometry) To draw the smallest circle or higher-dimensional sphere that has (a polyhedron, polygon, etc.) in its interior.

Related terms

• circumscript
• circumscription

Translations

Latin

Verb

circumscr?be

1. second-person singular present active imperative of circumscr?b?

English

Etymology

From Middle English [Term?], from Old French enviruner, environner (“to surround”), from environ (“around”), from en (“in”) + viron (“a turn”), from virer (“to turn, veer”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?va?.??n/, /?n?va?.??n/
• Rhymes: -a???n

Noun

environ (plural environs)

1. (especially in plural) A surrounding area

Verb

environ (third-person singular simple present environs, present participle environing, simple past and past participle environed)

1. To encircle, to surround.
   • a. 1631, John Donne, Elegy XII: His Parting from Her

     Environ me with darkness whilst I write.

   • 1673, John Milton, “I did but prompt the age to quit their cloggs”:

     I did but prompt the age to quit their cloggs

     By the known rules of antient libertie,

     When strait a barbarous noise environs me

     Of Owles and Cuckoes, Asses, Apes and Doggs.

Related terms

• environment

Translations

Further reading

• environ in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• environ in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• environ at OneLook Dictionary Search

French

Etymology

From en (“in”) + viron (“a turn”), from virer (“to turn, veer”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.vi.???/

Adverb

environ

1. about, close to, around

Noun

environ m (plural environs)

1. (especially in plural) a surrounding area

Related terms

• environnement

Further reading

• “environ” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• innover

Middle French

Adverb

environ

1. about; around; roughly
2. around

Occitan

Adverb

environ

1. about, around, approximately