limitation

Borrowed from Latin limitatio. Morphologically limit +‎ -ation.

• IPA^(key): /lɪmɪˈteɪʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

limitation (countable and uncountable, plural limitations)

1. The act of limiting or the state of being limited.
2. A restriction; a boundary, real or metaphorical, caused by some thing or some circumstance.

   Getting into his wheelchair after his amputation, it felt like a limitation you could roll in.

   He understood the exam material, but his fear was a limitation he could not overcome.

   • 1962 December, “The Oxted Line diesel-electric multiple-units”, in Modern Railways, page 383:

     The coaches are similar to those of the Hampshire diesel-electric units, which went into service in September, 1957, but have 8ft 6in wide bodies, instead of 9ft, because of loading gauge limitations on the South Eastern Division.

   • 2011 November 9, Susanne Gargiulo, “Emotional intelligence in the workplace”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Now, Nielsen is sending all hotel employees through EI training to help them become more open and confident, understand their own limitations and fears, and to boost their self-worth and comfort in dealing with other people.

   • 2013 June 2, Phil Hansen, “Art that embraces our limits”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Telling a story is like an invitation for others to share their stories with you. That’s what I discovered at TED when I shared my story about a limitation that held me back from my dream.

3. An imperfection or shortcoming that limits something's use or value.
   • 2018, Clarence Green, James Lambert, “Position vectors, homologous chromosomes and gamma rays: Promoting disciplinary literacy through Secondary Phrase Lists”, in English for Specific Purposes, →DOI, page 5:

     Both the MI score and the t-score have their limitations. MI computes a logarithm representing the number of co-occurrences of words compared to their occurrences apart in the corpus, which can highlight rare collocations if the components tend not to occur with other words. The t-score formula is less susceptible to this but its numerical result cannot be meaningfully compared across corpora of different sizes.

4. (law) A time period after which some legal action may no longer be brought.

   The lawyer obtained impunity by dragging his obviously guilty client's case beyond the ten-year limitation.

• (time period): prescription

• limitlessness

• “limitation”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• militation

Borrowed from Latin līmitātiōnem. By surface analysis, limiter +‎ -ation.

• IPA^(key): /li.mi.ta.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

limitation f (plural limitations)

1. limitation (action of limiting) [from 1304]

   Antonym: illimitation

   traité de limitation des armements ― arms limitation treaty

   Il a obtenu un congé sans aucune limitation de temps. ― He obtained leave without any time limit.

• délimitation
• restriction

• “limitation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.