constipate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause constipation in; make costive.
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Informal. to cause to become slow-moving or immobilized; restrict the action or effectiveness of.
Bureaucratic red tape can constipate the operations of any government agency.
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Obsolete. to crowd or pack closely together.
verb
Other Word Forms
- constipated adjective
Etymology
Origin of constipate
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English past participle constipat, from Latin constīpātus, past participle of constīpāre, equivalent to con- intensive prefix + Latin stīpāre “to crowd, press”); con-, stiff
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.
Dalia Lara often drives an hour from her Federal Way home to buy the only baby formula that doesn’t constipate her 3-month-old.
From Seattle Times • May 11, 2022
But they also entomb vast tracts of fertile soil, constipate rivers, choke habitats and – acting as a rock-hard second skin – desensitise us from what is happening outside our urban fortresses.
From The Guardian • Feb. 25, 2019
I would rather add some nutritious food that won’t constipate her.
From Washington Post • Apr. 28, 2017
Critics fret that the control freakery will now constipate Whitehall: “You couldn’t blow your nose without Nick or Fi knowing,” recalls one former colleague.
From Economist • Aug. 4, 2016
Reduced iron can be given in very small dosage; sulphate of iron is cheap and useful in pill form: both of these have a tendency to constipate.
From A Manual of Toy Dogs How to breed, rear, and feed them by Williams, Mrs. Leslie
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.
