Limit Meaning
/ˈlɪm.ɪt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go.
nounA restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go or proceed.
Sentence Examples
There is a limit of two pieces of luggage for each passenger.
We should observe the speed limit.
They imposed a strict spending limit.
CEFR Practice Quiz
To prevent overheating, the software will ____ the processor speed when the temperature rises.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The speed ____ on this section of the motorway is seventy miles per hour, as indicated by the signs today.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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, […], published 1839, →OCLC:
"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 […]"
— 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 17]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
"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, girl"
— 1978, Breakwater, “No Limit”, in Breakwater:
"As eager of the chase, the maid / Beyond the forest's verdant limits strayed."
— 1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
""Like many other large resorts, the town operated electric tramways, with open-topped cars. 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:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
To prevent overheating, the software will ____ the processor speed when the temperature rises.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The speed ____ on this section of the motorway is seventy miles per hour, as indicated by the signs today.