verb
confine
kuhn-FYN
verb
1
To keep someone or something within certain limits or a restricted space.
"The patient was confined to bed for a week."
"Please confine your comments to the topic at hand."
How to Use Confine
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishTo restrict something or someone to a limited space, scope, or set of boundaries.
Common pairings
confined to a room
confine yourself to
confined space
Word Forms
confined past tense, confines plural, confines singular
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The patient was _____ to bed for a week.
Etymology
From Middle French confiner, from Latin confīnis, "bordering" — from con- + fīnis ("boundary, end").