ambit

ambit

See also: àmbit

English

WOTD – 2 February 2021

Etymology

From Late Middle English ambyte, borrowed from Latin ambitus (“circuit; circumference, perimeter; area within a perimeter; ground around a building; cycle, orbit, revolution”) (compare Late Latin ambitus (“neighbourhood; wall of a castle, monastery, or town; cloister; parish boundary”)), from ambīre + -tus (suffix forming verbal nouns from verbs).[1] Ambīre is the present active infinitive of ambiō (“to go around, to skirt; to encircle, surround”), from ambi- (“prefix meaning ‘both, on both sides’”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- (“front; face; forehead”)) + eō (“to go, move”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”)). The English word is a doublet of ambitus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæmbɪt/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æmbɪt
• Hyphenation: am‧bit

Noun

ambit (plural ambits)

1. (by extension)
   1. The extent of actions, thoughts, or the meaning of words, etc.
   2. The area or sphere of control and influence of something.
      • 1913, Gilbert Parker, “‘The Alpine Fellow’”, in The Judgment House […], uniform edition, Toronto, Ont.: The Copp, Clark Co., OCLC 719770515, book IV, pages 412–413:

        He had invited Destiny to sweep him up in her reaping, by placing himself in the ambit of her scythe; but the sharp reaping-hook had passed him by.

2. (archaic) The boundary around a building, town, region, etc.
3. (archaic, rare) The circumference of something circular; also, an arc; a circuit, an orbit.
4. (obsolete) Chiefly in the plural form ambits: the open space surrounding a building, town, etc.; the grounds or precincts of a place.

   Synonym: (of a house) curtilage

Derived terms

• ambit claim

Related terms

• ambitus

Translations

boundary around a building, town, region, etc.

Bulgarian: обиколка (bg) (obikolka), граница (bg) (granica), окръжение (okrǎženie) French: portée (fr) f German: Abgrenzung (de) f, Begrenzung (de) f, Bereichsgrenze f, Grenze (de) f, Umfriedung f, Umgrenzung f Hungarian: kiterjedés (hu) Italian: ambito (it) m Portuguese: âmbito (pt) m Spanish: ámbito (es)

circumference of something circular — see circumference

arc — see arc

circuit, orbit — see circuit,‎ orbit

extent of actions, thoughts, etc.

Portuguese: âmbito (pt) m

area or sphere of control and influence of something

Bulgarian: сфера на влияние (sfera na vlijanie) Catalan: àmbit (ca), zona d'influència French: champ (fr) m Galician: ámbito m German: Einflussbereich (de) m, Einflussgebiet n, Einflusssphäre f, Geltungsbereich m, Herrschaftsbereich (de) m, Machtbereich (de) m, Wirkungsbereich (de) m Hungarian: hatáskör (hu) Italian: ambito (it) m Portuguese: âmbito (pt) m, esfera (pt) f Spanish: ámbito (es) m, zona de influencia

References

1. “ambit, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2020; “ambit, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

• ambit (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• BTAIM, imbat, timba

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Latin

Verb

ambit

1. third-person singular present active indicative of ambiō

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Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ambitus.[1][2] First attested in 1577.[3]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈam.bit/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ambit
• Syllabification: am‧bit

Noun

ambit m inan

1. (architecture) ambulatory

   Synonym: obejście

2. (architecture) retrochoir

   ambit katedralnego ― cathedral retrochoir

   ambit katedry ― a cathedral's retrochoir

3. (archaic) ambition

   Synonym: ambicja

4. (archaic, architecture) cloister

   Synonyms: ganek, krużganek

Declension

Declension of ambit

	singular	plural
nominative	ambit	ambity
genitive	ambitu	ambitów
dative	ambitowi	ambitom
accusative	ambit	ambity
instrumental	ambitem	ambitami
locative	ambicie	ambitach
vocative	ambicie	ambity

Derived terms

adjective

• ambitny

 

adverb

• ambitnie

 

verbs

• brać na ambit
• wjechać na ambit
• wjeżdżać na ambit
• wziąć na ambit

 

Related terms

adjectives

• ambicjonalny
• ambicyjny

 

adverbs

• ambicjonalnie
• ambicyjnie

 

nouns

• ambicja
• ambicyjka

 

References

1. Mirosław Bańko; Lidia Wiśniakowska (2021) Wielki słownik wyrazów obcych, →ISBN
2. Witold Doroszewski, editor (1958–1969), “ambit”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), Warszawa: PWN
3. “ambit”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish], 2010-2022

• Pęzik, Piotr; Przepiórkowski, A.; Bańko, M.; Górski, R.; Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B (2012) Wyszukiwarka PELCRA dla danych NKJP. Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego [National Polish Language Corpus, PELCRA search engine]‎, Wydawnictwo PWN

Further reading

• ambit in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ambit in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• “NU”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], BR-K
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807-1814), “ambit”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “ambit”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “ambit”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 30
• ambit in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego