constrain

[ kuhn-streyn ]

verb (used with object)

1. to force, compel, or oblige:

   He was constrained to admit the offense.

   Synonyms: coerce

2. to confine forcibly, as by bonds.

   Synonyms: bind, check

   Antonyms: free

3. to repress or restrain:

   Cold weather constrained the plant's growth.

constrain

/ kənˈstreɪn /

verb

1. to compel or force, esp by persuasion, circumstances, etc; oblige
2. to restrain by or as if by force; confine

Derived Forms

• conˈstrainer, noun

Other Words From

• con·straina·ble adjective
• con·strainer noun
• con·straining·ly adverb
• noncon·straining adjective
• uncon·straina·ble adjective
• uncon·straining adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of constrain¹

1275–1325; Middle English constrei ( g ) nen < Anglo-French, Middle French constrei ( g ) n- (stem of constreindre ) < Latin constringere. See con-, strain ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of constrain¹

C14: from Old French constreindre, from Latin constringere to bind together, from stringere to bind

Example Sentences

Isha Aran at Jezebel worries that the show “glorif[ies] the way religion can constrain people.”

From The Daily Beast

This argument is vital to a larger argument: Do we obey the rules set up to constrain government or not?

From The Daily Beast

But when you can sing like that, how can you constrain that voice and possibly be comfortable in the back?

From The Daily Beast

President Obama is at least as eager to constrain Medicare spending as Republicans, possibly even more so.

From The Daily Beast

The response will be to get more security, to constrain how freely ambassadors move around.

From The Daily Beast

The dramatist "may call up the shadows of the past, but like the Witch of Endor, in order to constrain them to reveal the future."

From Project Gutenberg

And the very instant the cloth was removed, she rose, unable to constrain herself any longer, and ran up stairs to her own room.

From Project Gutenberg

O for the lyre of some Orpheus, to constrain, with touch of melodious strings, these mad masses into Order!

From Project Gutenberg

I have urged him to use his power to constrain her, but he loves liberty himself too dearly, he says, to put force upon another.'

From Project Gutenberg

None did awake them, none did constrain them to eat, drink, nor do any other thing; for so had Gargantua established it.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bind
• constrict
• curb
• hold down
• inhibit
• necessitate
• stifle