'limit' vs 'limitation' [closed]

What are the similarities and differences? I already tried the OED, but its richness (ie plenitude) of information can overwhelm me, a novice.

I heed the Etymological Fallacy, but does etymology help reveal anything? Etymonline (and also OED) shows that limit's etymology differs (slightly) from limitation's.

Solution 1:

Search Google Books for

merriam webster synonym dictionary limit limitation

and you will get access to the page of interest in this specialized dictionary, best for performing synonym separation

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms: A Dictionary of Discriminated

which tells you that their synonyms are respectively:

limit: bound, end, term

In the main: a prescribed maximum or minimum amount, quantity, or number

This is more about a threshold, a boundary, a number.

limitation: restriction, confinement

In the main: a restriction or restraint imposed from without (as by law, custom, or circumstances

This is more about a [constraining] mechanism.

Now, caveat: they are sometimes used as synonyms for each other.

Solution 2:

Limitation is the act of setting a limit. "Limit" is sometimes used as a noun, as a synonym for limitation.

Just as "remodel" is often used as a noun, as a synonym for an instance of "remodeling".

Just as "install" is often used as a noun to refer to an instance of "installation".

All of these are, in my opinion, colloquial. I would not use them in written work.