BOUNDARY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does boundary mean? 

• BOUNDARY (noun)
  The noun BOUNDARY has 3 senses:

1. the line or plane indicating the limit or extent of something

2. a line determining the limits of an area

3. the greatest possible degree of something

  Familiarity information: BOUNDARY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOUNDARY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The line or plane indicating the limit or extent of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

bound; boundary; bounds

Hypernyms ("boundary" is a kind of...):

extremity (the outermost or farthest region or point)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "boundary"):

end (a boundary marking the extremities of something)

shoreline (a boundary line between land and water)

surface (the extended two-dimensional outer boundary of a three-dimensional object)

lineation; outline (the line that appears to bound an object)

demarcation; demarcation line; limit (the boundary of a specific area)

border; edge (the boundary of a surface)

city line (the boundary of a city)

county line (the boundary between two counties)

district line (the boundary between two districts)

bourn; bourne (an archaic term for a boundary)

border; borderline; boundary line; delimitation; mete (a line that indicates a boundary)

heliopause (the boundary marking the edge of the sun's influence; the boundary (roughly 100 AU from the sun) between the interplanetary medium and the interstellar medium; where the solar wind from the sun and the radiation from other stars meet)

frontier (an international boundary or the area (often fortified) immediately inside the boundary)

hairline (the natural margin formed by hair on the head)

Instance hyponyms:

Rubicon (the boundary in ancient times between Italy and Gaul; Caesar's crossing it with his army in 49 BC was an act of war)

Moho; Mohorovicic discontinuity (the boundary between the Earth's crust and the underlying mantle)

Derivation:

bound (form the boundary of; be contiguous to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A line determining the limits of an area

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

bound; boundary; edge

Hypernyms ("boundary" is a kind of...):

line (a length (straight or curved) without breadth or thickness; the trace of a moving point)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "boundary"):

rim (the shape of a raised edge of a more or less circular object)

border; margin; perimeter (the boundary line or the area immediately inside the boundary)

fringe; outer boundary; periphery (the outside boundary or surface of something)

brink; threshold; verge (a region marking a boundary)

upper bound ((mathematics) a number equal to or greater than any other number in a given set)

lower bound ((mathematics) a number equal to or less than any other number in a given set)

thalweg (the middle of the chief navigable channel of a waterway that forms the boundary line between states)

Derivation:

bound (form the boundary of; be contiguous to)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The greatest possible degree of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

bound; boundary; limit

Context example:

to the limit of his ability

Hypernyms ("boundary" is a kind of...):

extent (the distance or area or volume over which something extends)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "boundary"):

absoluteness; starkness; utterness (the quality of being complete or utter or extreme)

heat barrier; thermal barrier (a limit to high speed flight imposed by aerodynamic heating)

level best; maximum; utmost; uttermost (the greatest possible degree)

brink; verge (the limit beyond which something happens or changes)

knife-edge (a narrow boundary)

 Context examples 

This allele, which encodes transcriptional repressor CTCF protein, may play a role in transcriptional repression and establishment of heterochromatin boundaries.

(CTCF wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

It also provides for a visualization tool to inspect cluster number, membership, and boundaries.

(Consensus Clustering, NCI Thesaurus)

The term may be used to indicate rather specific separation into equal parts, or division along boundaries that are considered attractive for some reason.

(Division, NCI Thesaurus)

A sensation of discomfort or distress that is non-specific or without clear boundaries.

(Dull Pain, NCI Thesaurus)

Any demarcated area of the Earth; may be determined by both natural and human boundaries.

(Geographic Area, NCI Thesaurus)

Movement of a substance through a unit area of a boundary layer or membrane per unit of time.

(Flux, NCI Thesaurus)

A solid dosage form bounded by a circular base and the surface formed by line segments joining every point of the boundary of the base to a common vertex.

(Cone Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Characteristic of the shape formed by the boundary or edges of a finding or feature.

(Border Shape, NCI Thesaurus/DICOM)

The boundary of a surface or object.

(Anatomic Border, NCI Thesaurus)

The team mapped the boundaries of the lava flows from each of the 29 volcanic vents and determined the stratigraphy, or layering, of the flows.

(Mars Volcano, Earth's Dinosaurs Went Extinct About the Same Time, NASA)