Limiting

How to spell limiting

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce limiting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does limiting mean?

1. verbPresent participle of limit: setting a restriction or boundary on something.
2. adjectiveActing as a restriction; holding something back or keeping it within bounds.

Limiting in a sentence

• verb

  The company is limiting overtime to control the monthly budget.

• adjective

  A limiting belief about money can keep talented people in low-paid jobs.

• verb

  She is limiting her screen time to two hours each evening.

• adjective

  The narrow doorway was the limiting factor in moving the sofa upstairs.

Where does limiting come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the -ing form of the verb 'limit', which English took from the Old French verb 'limiter' in the late 1300s. That French word came directly from the Latin 'limitare', meaning 'to bound, set a boundary to', formed from the noun 'limes' (genitive 'limitis'), which literally meant a boundary path or the marked edge of a field, and later the fortified frontier of the Roman Empire. The sense moved naturally from a physical border to any kind of restriction, so that to limit something is to fix its furthest extent. The single 't' in the root is the spelling point worth remembering: because 'limit' ends in a single consonant after an unstressed vowel, the consonant is not doubled when -ing is added, giving 'limiting' rather than 'limitting'. The same 'limes' root survives in the related words 'limit' and 'preliminary'.

How the word is built

• limit (a boundary or restriction)
• -ing (forming a present participle and adjective)