fetter
Americannoun
-
a chain or shackle placed on the feet.
-
Usually fetters. anything that confines or restrains.
Boredom puts fetters upon the imagination.
verb (used with object)
-
fetters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fettered,
past participle, past
-
fettering
present participle
-
to put fetters upon.
-
to confine; restrain.
noun
-
(often plural) a chain or bond fastened round the ankle; shackle
-
(usually plural) a check or restraint
in fetters
verb
-
to restrict or confine
-
to bind in fetters
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fettersimple
-
fetterssimple
-
have fetteredperfect
-
has fetteredperfect
-
am fetteringprogressive
-
are fetteringprogressive
-
is fetteringprogressive
-
have been fetteringperfect progressive
-
has been fetteringperfect progressive
Past
-
fetteredsimple
-
had fetteredperfect
-
was fetteringprogressive
-
were fetteringprogressive
-
had been fetteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fetter
before 900; Middle English, Old English feter; cognate with Old High German fezzera, Old Norse fjǫturr; akin to foot
Explanation
A fetter is a shackle or chain that is attached to someone’s ankles. To fetter someone is to restrict their movement, either literally or metaphorically. You might feel fettered by your parents' rules, even without the chains. A fetter is anything that secures and limits the movement of the feet and legs of a prisoner. To fetter, the verb, could be used literally: the prison wardens would fetter the chain gangs who built many of the railroads in the United States, but it usually means something has been done to restrain someone’s behavior: "we finally managed to fetter our sons’ computer use with bribery."
Vocabulary lists containing fetter
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"The Cask Of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"The Cask of Amontillado"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
At its core, it serves to moderate the thrill for new ideas and fetter decision-making with long debates.
From Slate ● May 16, 2017
At another point, the actor becomes one of two mortarboard-wearing orators who pull at the straps that fetter two shocked listeners.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 19, 2016
And the commission stated it was not seeking to fetter the charity's discretion to fund Cage "for all time regardless of changing circumstances".
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2015
Huang is something else: a person at war with all the constraints that would fetter him to anything less than an identity capacious enough to contain all his contradictions and ambivalence.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2015
In the black iron fetter about his wrist, the ruby seemed to pulse.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
“We seek a new revolution,” he said, “not less important, perhaps, in its consequences than that of 1776—a revolution in letters; a shaking off of the fetters of the mind.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
"I just couldn't break away from the fetters."
From Reuters ● Apr. 13, 2023
Its stage is where King Kong broke his fetters in the 1933 movie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2023
As he rises and swishes, the designs of an NBA defensive scheme now lay in waste on the hardwood, as useful as broken fetters.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 15, 2021
Yoren even sent Lommy out with tankards for the three in fetters, who'd been left chained up in the back of their wagon.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Both were fettered by entrenched social expectations, leaving little room for anyone who wanted to chart a different course.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
Despite efforts from the Valkyries and Odin’s ravens, this Viking action art piece is fettered to the ground by the demands of the studio gods.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 18, 2022
It’s a place I can go to stay motivated, stay on track, keep everything fettered and balanced in my life.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2020
That government is fettered by the rule of law and accountable to the people.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 1, 2017
On the ground, the jockey was fettered and muted, moving in slow motion, the world a sensory vacuum after the tenfold high of racing speed.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
With iron censorship fettering the Press last week, shocking reports circulated by word of mouth throughout the Peninsula and the Isles of Greece.
From Time Magazine Archive
In fact, this is not aid but a handout of leftovers from the master's table made conditional upon fettering obligations .
From Time Magazine Archive
And as he monologued he was aware of that fettering, overmastering force which visits youth but once—the abnegation of self before that which is.
From A Transient Guest and Other Episodes by Edgar Saltus
"To rule by fettering the mind through fear of punishment in another world is just as base as to use force," said Hypatia in one of her lectures.
From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 10 Little Journeys To The Homes Of Great Teachers by Elbert Hubbard
Let the net of prejudice, let the miserable bond of custom be rent asunder, let the fettering supports fall!
From The Home by Mary (Mary Botham) Howitt
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.
