confined
confined — adjective
1. describing a space that is too small to move around in comfortably, with walls o
describing a space that is too small to move around in comfortably, with walls or barriers close on every side.
Lucas felt anxious working all day inside the confined cockpit of the submarine.
attributive: confined + noun (cockpit, space, area)
The factory now bans welding inside any confined space without two safety supervisors present.
fixed phrase: 'confined space' as a safety-regulations term
Three rescue workers crawled into the confined tunnel to reach the trapped miners.
Living for a month in such a confined cabin made Gabriela long for open fields.
The cat refused to sleep in the confined corner behind the washing machine.
文法句型
a confined + noun
in a confined space
用法筆記
Most often appears as 'confined space' (a fixed phrase used in workplace safety rules) or with words for small enclosed places: room, cabin, tunnel, cell, cockpit.
常見錯誤
2. kept inside a place such as a prison, hospital, or room, and not allowed or able
kept inside a place such as a prison, hospital, or room, and not allowed or able to go outside.
After the operation, Élise was confined to the hospital bed for ten days.
passive pattern: be confined to + place
Two protesters remained confined in a small police cell for over a week.
Snow leopards bred in zoos are confined animals that rarely thrive in the wild.
Christopher hated feeling confined whenever the airport snowstorm shut every gate.
The injured eagle was confined to a wire enclosure until it could fly again.
- captive
stronger sense of being taken and held against one's will
- imprisoned
specifically inside a prison or formal place of detention
- shut in
informal; everyday situations like illness or weather
文法句型
confined to + place
be confined + by
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1: this sense is about a person or animal being held inside, not about the space itself being small. Often passive ('be confined to / in') and frequently followed by a place phrase.
常見錯誤
confined — verb
1. to limit something — an activity, a discussion, or a person's role — so that it
to limit something — an activity, a discussion, or a person's role — so that it stays within certain boundaries, topics, or rules.
Please confine your questions to the new policy and avoid older issues for now.
pattern: confine + object + to + topic
The judge confined the trial to evidence collected before April last year.
Soraya tries to confine her social media use to half an hour after dinner.
Hospital rules confine visiting hours to the afternoon, between two and five.
The professor asked the students to confine their essays to fewer than a thousand words.
文法句型
confine + something + to + something
be confined to
用法筆記
Subject is usually a rule, policy, person in authority, or the speaker telling someone else to stay within limits. The 'to' phrase is almost always present — without it the sentence feels incomplete.
常見錯誤
2. to keep someone shut inside a building or area against their wishes, often by us
to keep someone shut inside a building or area against their wishes, often by using force or strict rules.
Soldiers who broke curfew were confined to barracks for the rest of the week.
passive military set phrase: be confined to barracks
Guards confined the protesters in a small storeroom near the back gate.
The dictator confined his rivals to remote islands for years without trial.
Veterinary staff confined the bitten dog to a quiet cage to watch for symptoms.
The new rules confine students to the dormitories after ten in the evening.
文法句型
confine + somebody + to/in + place
be confined to barracks / quarters
用法筆記
Object is a person or animal; the location is given by 'to' or 'in'. Distinguish from sense 1: here the object is a living being being shut inside a place, not an activity being limited in scope.
常見錯誤
3. to be found only in one place or among one group of people, and not to spread or
to be found only in one place or among one group of people, and not to spread or appear anywhere else.
The rare blue lizard is confined to two small islands off the Indonesian coast.
passive only: be confined to + region
For now, the outbreak appears confined to three villages along the river.
The dialect Nikhil studied is confined to fishermen on the southern coast.
This old greeting is now confined to a few elderly villagers.
Tropical malaria was once confined to the rainforest, but warmer weather has spread it.
- restricted to
near-identical; slightly more neutral about cause
- limited to
everyday register; same meaning when describing range
- widespread
found across many places
文法句型
be confined to + place / group
remain confined to
用法筆記
Always passive ('be confined to') — you never write 'X confines to Y'. Subject is typically a species, disease, custom, language, or other thing whose distribution is being described. Distinguish from sense 1 (limiting an activity by choice) and sense 2 (holding a person inside).