straiten
Americanverb (used with object)
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to put into difficulties, especially financial ones.
His obligations had straitened him.
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to restrict in range, extent, amount, pecuniary means, etc.
Poverty straitens one's way of living.
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Archaic.
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to make narrow.
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to confine within narrow limits.
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verb
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(tr; usually passive) to embarrass or distress, esp financially
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(tr) to limit, confine, or restrict
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archaic to make or become narrow
Etymology
Origin of straiten
Explanation
To straiten is to restrict financially, the way having your rent increase can straiten your circumstances if your salary stays the same. The verb straiten is an old-fashioned one, but it's one way to describe a situation that's been diminished or constrained, usually because of money problems. This meaning derives from an earlier definition, "to restrict or make narrow," from strait, "narrow." If you find your circumstances narrowed by a lack of finances, you'll know what this word is all about.
Vocabulary lists containing straiten
Pygmalion
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Long Walk to Freedom
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"A Day's Work," Excerpt from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
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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.
I absolutely must reform, for I do not propose that my father shall straiten himself for me; and that is what will happen if I continue to lead the life I have been leading.
From San-Cravate; or, The Messengers; Little Streams by Kock, Charles Paul de
The armaments they have equipped and are equipping, and the expensive preparations for the siege of Gibraltar, straiten them exceedingly for funds.
From The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. IX by Sparks, Jared
For indeed, Fate full of marvel is: If fortune straiten thee one day, the next relief is nigh.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume I by Payne, John
Oft times mischance shall straiten noble breast, viii.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 10 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
His most celebrated saying was, " Be constant in meditation on death: if thou bein straitened case 'twill enlarge it, and if in affluence 'twill straiten it upon thee."
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 02 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
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.
