restrain
Americanverb
-
to hold (someone) back from some action, esp by force
-
to deprive (someone) of liberty, as by imprisonment
-
to limit or restrict
Related Words
See check 1.
Other Word Forms
- overrestrain verb (used with object)
- prerestrain verb (used with object)
- restrainability noun
- restrainable adjective
- restrainingly adverb
- unrestrainable adjective
Etymology
Origin of restrain
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English restreynen, from Middle French restreindre, from Latin restringere “to bind back, bind fast”; equivalent to re- + strain 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
However, at the moment, “any benefit from rising customer numbers and seat capacity growth is being severely restrained,” he adds.
He moved the restraining arm of the chair away and went to the desk.
From Literature
Governments, tech watchdogs and some of the people who build AI systems have called for global rules restraining use of the technology in warfare to avoid the various nightmare scenarios associated with automated killing machines.
But as you move inland and north — into Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia — winter cooking becomes heartier, more restrained, and deeply tied to survival.
From Salon
The official motto of this year’s World Economic Forum was “A Spirit of Dialogue”—though many CEOs at times appeared to restrain their opinions about the changing world.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
