straitjacket

American  

[streyt-jak-it] / ˈstreɪtˌdʒæk ɪt /

Or straightjacket

noun

1. a garment made of strong material and designed to bind the arms, as of a violently disoriented person.

2. anything that severely confines, constricts, or hinders.

   Conventional attitudes can be a straitjacket, preventing original thinking.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to put in or as in a straitjacket.

   Her ambition was straitjacketed by her family.

straitjacket British  

/ ˈstreɪtˌdʒækɪt /

noun

1. Also called: straightjacket.  a jacket made of strong canvas material with long sleeves for binding the arms of violent prisoners or mentally ill patients

2. a severe restriction or limitation

---

verb

1. (tr) to confine in or as if in a straitjacket

Etymology

Origin of straitjacket

First recorded in 1805–15; strait + jacket

Example Sentences

And she suggested replacing the contentious Let's Create strategy, which she said was widely seen as a straitjacket, "stifling artistic innovation and creativity".

From BBC

He was seen as a deft negotiator of the centre ground, triangulating his way out of the straitjacket of traditional left-right politics.

From BBC

It makes the whole project less overwhelming — more a compass than a straitjacket.

From Salon

Wilson said the album would be a “teenage symphony to God,” a piece of music so audacious it would unlock the straitjacket he felt was keeping pop music bland and predictable.

From Los Angeles Times

The text becomes a straitjacket for a princely son who doesn’t seem accustomed to Shakespearean rigors.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• ban
• constraint
• curb
• embargo
• limit
• prohibition
• reduction
• restriction