Added 8 October 2026

limit

/ˈlɪm.ɪt/ noun

In Latin: limes, terminus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about limit at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go or proceed.
There are several existing limits to executive power.
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.
Any of several abstractions of this concept of limit.
Category theory defines a very general concept of limit.

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.
To have a limit in a particular set.
The sequence limits on the point a.
To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region.
a limiting friar

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.