ambit

/ˈæmbət/

Other forms: ambits

An ambit is the area or range that someone controls or affects. The kid who's voted president of her sixth grade class is going to be thrilled, despite her relatively small ambit.

The origins of ambit go back to the Latin word for "going about or going round," ambitus, and for a time, ambit literally meant "the area surrounding a building." Today, the range of a person or group's power is their ambit. For example, if a crime is committed on a college campus, the town police won't investigate if they decide that it's the ambit of the college police, or under their jurisdiction.

Definitions of ambit

1. noun

   an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control: "the range of a supersonic jet"
   “the ambit of municipal legislation”

   synonyms: compass, orbit, range, reach, scope

   types:

   approximate range, ballpark

   near to the scope or range of something

   confines, pale

   a bounded scope

   contrast

   the range of optical density and tone on a photographic negative or print (or the extent to which adjacent areas on a television screen differ in brightness)

   internationalism, internationality

   quality of being international in scope

   latitude

   scope for freedom of e.g. action or thought; freedom from restriction

   horizon, purview, view

   the range of interest or activity that can be anticipated

   expanse, sweep

   a wide scope

   gamut

   a complete extent or range: "a face that expressed a gamut of emotions"

   spectrum

   a broad range of related objects, values, qualities, ideas, or activities

   palette, pallet

   the range of colour characteristic of a particular artist or painting or school of art

   type of:

   extent

   the distance or area or volume over which something extends