stricture
Americannoun
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a remark or comment, especially an adverse criticism.
The reviewer made several strictures upon the author's style.
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an abnormal contraction of any passage or duct of the body.
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Phonetics. a constriction of airflow in the vocal tract in the production of speech.
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a restriction.
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Archaic. the act of enclosing or binding tightly.
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Obsolete. strictness.
noun
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a severe criticism; censure
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pathol an abnormal constriction of a tubular organ, structure, or part
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obsolete severity
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of stricture
1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin strictūra tightening, equivalent to Latin strict ( us ) ( see strict) + -ūra -ure
Explanation
One meaning of stricture is a nasty criticism, while the other is a sharp contraction of a tube or canal in the body. Either meaning can mean great pain to the person experiencing the stricture. The noun stricture finds its roots in the Late Latin word strictūra, which came from the stem stringere, "to draw tightly." You might remember that meaning by its relationship with the word constrict, meaning "to tighten or draw in." The additional meaning, that of “a critical remark,” is often used in the plural form — like "the critical strictures against cheating."
Vocabulary lists containing stricture
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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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.
Repeating a theme, McMahon said it would be her intention to follow the law, which includes the Constitution’s stricture that Congress controls the purse strings.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2025
The company maintains it had systemwide stricture against hiring minors.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 23, 2023
First, his urine stream had grown weak, and he worried he might have a urethral stricture.
From New York Times • May 10, 2022
Doctors performed an X-ray, found a stricture — a narrowing of the intestinal tract — and airlifted her to a hospital in Honolulu that was equipped to perform surgery.
From Washington Post • May 6, 2022
My father did, in any case, rapidly discover a way to circumvent the limitations on his effectiveness implied by the stricture that he should carry no laden trays.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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.
