limits

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of limit.

   The new policy sets strict limits on water usage during the summer.

   There are no limits to what a determined team can accomplish.

   Note

   In everyday use the plural names restrictions or outer edges, as in strict limits or the limits of a field. Mathematics treats it differently. A converging sequence has only one limit, so the plural there usually means its upper and lower limits, or the limits of several sequences. The same spelling also serves the verb's present-tense form. In the treaty limits trade it is a verb; in the treaty's limits it is a noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of limit.

   The treaty limits each nation to a fixed number of warships.

   Her contract limits the amount of overtime she can work each week.

   Note

   The present-tense form that goes with he, she, it or a singular noun. The other persons and plural subjects take bare limit (they limit, we limit). It is usually transitive and takes a direct object, often followed by to and the cap itself: limits each nation to a fixed number. A rarer intransitive use belongs to mathematics, where something limits in a set when it has a limit there.

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