cut back vs circumscribe

cut back and circumscribe both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
cut back	No	No	Yes	No
circumscribe	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, circumscribe is a hypernym of cut back; that is, circumscribe is a word with a broader meaning than cut back:

Other hypernyms of cut back include confine to, limit.

cut back (verb)	circumscribe (verb)
place restrictions on	restrict or confine within limits
cut down on; make a reduction in	draw a line around
cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of	to draw a geometric figure around another figure so that the two are in contact but do not intersect
return in time