confine
verb uk/kənˈfaɪn/ us/kənˈfaɪn/
C2 [ T ]把…局限在，限制
to limit an activity, person, or problem in some way
Let's confine our discussion to the matter in question, please! 请把讨论集中在正题上！
Please confine your use of the phone to business calls. 请注意电话仅限于办公用途。
By closing the infected farms we're hoping to confine the disease to the north of the region (= stop it from spreading to other areas). 通过关闭受感染的农场，我们希望把疾病限制在该地区的北部。
C2 [ T usually passive ]（常指强制）关押，监禁，禁闭
to keep someone closed in a place, often by force
The hostages had been confined for so long that they couldn't cope with the outside world. 人质被关押了那么久，以致于他们对外面的世界一时适应不了。
be confined to somewhere/something 仅存在于…；仅限于…
to exist only in a particular area or group of people
We know that the illness is not confined to any one group in society. 我们知道这种疾病不只局限于社会的某一个群体中。
This attitude seems to be confined to the very wealthy. 这种态度似乎只存在于上层阶级中。
Since the economic situation got worse, these problems aren't confined to small businesses.
The impact of last week's tragedy isn't confined to the families who lost loved ones.
Experts say the environmental damage is likely to be confined to the immediate area.
- More examples
- Men have always played an active part in leading worship while women have been confined to more passive roles.
- The campaign aims to dispel the prejudice that AIDS is confined to the homosexual community.
- Let's confine our remarks to the facts, shall we?
- We confined our research to families with only one autistic child.
- It was terrible for our research to be confined by lack of money.