- past tense form of constipate.
- past participle of constipate.
constipated
Americanadjective
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having a condition of the bowels in which the feces are dry and hardened and evacuation is difficult and infrequent.
Most constipated people need more fluids and fiber.
-
slow-moving or immobilized, as by overregulation, backlogs, etc..
Such an approach only adds to a bloated bureaucracy and constipated decision-making.
-
overly stiff, repressed, or conventional; uptight.
She describes her husband as “emotionally constipated.”
adjective
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suffering from constipation
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subject to restriction or blockage in a flow of productive activity or creativity
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of constipated
First recorded in 1540–50; constipat(e) ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. )
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.
"You could run into the extremes of eating too much, where if you're not drinking enough water to hydrate and exceed the amount of soluble and insoluble fiber, you can get constipated," Lee said.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 8, 2026
When Leonidas was just a month old, he was fussy and often constipated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 3, 2026
“It taught you to be a lot less constipated about having a bad idea or being made fun of,” he said of his time at Esquire.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2025
If by chance I eat three in a day, I get constipated.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 7, 2023
And even though I hated getting shuffled around and grabbed by my love handles, my rubbery constipated face did relax into a smile.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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.
