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.
Additionally, Glover filed a request for a restraining order against Doe, though a judge dismissed the request because of a “lack of prosecution.”
From Los Angeles Times
These patchwork visions have a restrained, contemplative air that carefully weighs the seriousness of their themes without ever dipping into melodrama or titillation.
He probably has a restraining word against me.
From Los Angeles Times
After some long-winded bickering between the two camps, the fighters - relatively restrained until that point - finally sparked into life.
From BBC
But remarks were much more muted, restrained or simply absent about remaining senior royals.
From BBC
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.
