Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The extent or range of function, power, or competence; scope. See Synonyms at range.
- n. Range of vision, comprehension, or experience; outlook.
- n. Law The body, scope, or limit of a statute.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A condition, provision, or disposition; in law, that part of a statute which begins with the words “Be it enacted,” as distinguished from the preamble, and hence the whole body of provisions.
- n. Field, scope, sphere, or limits of anything, as of a law, authority, etc.: as, the purview of science; facts that come under the purview of consciousness.
Wiktionary
- n. law The enacting part of a statute.
- n. law The scope of a statute.
- n. Scope or range of interest or control.
- n. Range of understanding.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Law) The body of a statute, or that part which begins with “
Be it enacted , ” as distinguished from thepreamble . - n. The limit or scope of a statute; the whole extent of its intention or provisions.
- n. Limit or sphere of authority; scope; extent.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the range of interest or activity that can be anticipated
Etymologies
- From Middle English purveu ("proviso"), from Anglo-Norman purveuest ("it is provided"), or purveu que ("provided that") (statutory language), from Old French porveu ("provided"), past partiple of porveoir ("to provide"), from Latin provideo (See provide). Influenced by view and its etymological antecedants. (Wiktionary)
- Alteration (influenced by view) of Middle English purveu, proviso, from Anglo-Norman purveu est, it is provided (from the use of this word to introduce a proviso), past participle of purveier, to provide; see purvey. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Not only are there overlaps in purview, but the physical portfolios are so intertwined that changes in one have ripple effects on others, and most critically the citizens.”
“Since the woman's purview is primarily concerned with domesticity and private relations, it is within reason to expect that women should want to be concerned with the preservation of the nation (often gendered female as in the case of "Britannia"), which is the guarantor of this private sphere.”
The Ruins of Empire: Nationalism, Art, and Empire in Hemans's Modern Greece
“Congress has committees whose purview is intelligence so it can allocate funds.”
Think Progress » To Justify War, Administration Pushed Claims By Known “Fabricatorâ€
“And since her purview is more expansive than just the broadcast network, she intends to lead as many of these viewers as she can to the multitude of cable channels she also has at her command.”
“The author’s purview is “the characteristic activities and interests of a people,” to quote T.S. Eliot’s all-embracing definition of culture, and in offering what he calls “an intimate, multilayered, multivoiced, unsentimental portrait of a society,” Kynaston will juxtapose the news of Hiroshima with, say, the (in many corners) far more intense and animated talk of “the new ‘cold perm’!””
“In my limited purview, that is not my impression of.”
“Hastert is in charge of the House of Representatives and everything that occurs under his purview is his responsibility.”
“Ordinarily I wouldn't be concerned with a gathering like this since it doesn't really fall under my purview, which is cycling and making fun of it.”
“BLITZER: He's got his -- his purview is the war in Iraq, not necessarily the whole world.”
“Normally, her purview was the healing of emotional wounds and psychological trauma, not the mending of flesh.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘purview’.
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words 1
Traduce, Ramify, precipitous, rapture, adumbrate, knell, smolder, vagary, choleric, sibylline, hypocritical, jejune and 135 more...
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Vocab [General]
No particular specification to this list.
philology, etymology, atavistic, proscribe, inchoate, vulgate, abstruse, agnate, anodize, anthropomorphic, assiduous, augur and 89 more...
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MiaLuthien's list ♥
gambit, prehensile, coquetry, impunity, genuflect, ensconce, clavicle, delude, beget, castigate, life caching, convoluted and 478 more...
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Mat8iou's interesting words
Words I've come across & want to remember.
bloviation, elginism, panegyric, infandous, boke, pangram, quine, pareto principle, panopticon, snib, escutcheon, bokeh and 129 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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To Learn
enervate, redolent, distaff, approbation, arrogate, bonhomie, palliate, calumny, panoply, contumacious, edify, dyspeptic and 188 more...
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Consider the Lobster
By David Foster Wallace
percussive, discursive, lugubrious, docent, assiduously, berm, wag, bonmot, imbroglio, telegraph, fissile, rube and 220 more...
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nominative case collection
wine stopper, pyre, roster, hamper, moleskin, elastic, pinnacle, facsimile, nook, plonk, contortionist, dismay and 342 more...
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sillygoose's Words
nefarious, waffle, dilettante, love, obstreperous, suggestible, fodder, plucky, trajectory, eclectic, juggernaut, demure and 115 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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rhii's words to remember and incorporate
Just whatever words I might happen across in my wanderings that I find myself compelled to write down so that I remember to try to use them. Not necessarily unusual words, but worthwhile ones.
redact, treatise, vitrify, cogitate, propensity, silphium, saccharine, minutiae, sluicing, dalliance, remonstrated, carnelian and 131 more...
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bertilak's Words
antidisestablishm..., feldercarb, wainscoting, eleemosynary, oxymoron, fuliginous, libration, lammergeier, saxifrage, ichor, lambent, smaragdine and 414 more...
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My GRE
concomitant, mendacity, corollary, mandate, ascertain, exacerbate, substantiate, perennial, exemplify, hegemony, acrimonious, repertoire and 653 more...
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My List
A list of words that I have generated over time.
cairn, cacodaemoniacal, abash, abject, abjure, abstemious, abhor, abnegate, abnegation, abscond, abstruse, acclivity and 702 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for purview.

bilby "'Twenty-four hours,' he said. 'He's booked on Iberia's morning flight at seven-twenty. He's a repatriation case. They're under the purview of the ministry.'"
- 'The Quiet Girl', Peter Høeg. Mar 19, 2008