Word to the Wise: Ambit

"Ambit" (AM-bit) – from the Latin for "to go around" – is an area in which something acts, operates, or has power or control.

Example (as used by David Papineau in The New York Times): "There was little to suggest [Karl Popper's] future eminence until he came within the ambit of the Vienna Circle, the renowned group of philosopher-scientists whose mission was to replace traditional metaphysics with the clean worldview of modern science."