unrestrained
Americanadjective
-
not restrained or controlled; uncontrolled or uncontrollable.
the unrestrained birthrate in some countries.
- Synonyms:
- excessive, unbridled, unrepressed, unchecked
-
not constrained; spontaneous.
unrestrained laughter.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unrestrained
First recorded in 1580–90; un- 1 + restrained
Explanation
You know how your uncle Marvin is always screaming at the television when his game shows are on? That’s because he’s being unrestrained. Anyone exhibiting uncontrolled emotion is unrestrained, meaning they don’t hold back. Unrestrained comes from the French restreinte, which means “hold back.” When something is restrained, that thing is confined in some way. Unrestrained means just the opposite. When you’re feeling unrestrained excitement, you might jump up and down, or call all your friends to tell them how you feel. The unrestrained crush you have on the guy in math class might lead you to cover your notebooks with his name written in bubble letters. It happens to the best of us.
Vocabulary lists containing unrestrained
100 SAT Words Beginning with "U"
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The Secret Garden
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Lessons 2–3
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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.
But the five Supreme Court judges said the Northern Ireland Secretary's power to decide whether disclosure would pose a risk to national security was "not unrestrained, nor is it the 'final say'."
From BBC ● May 7, 2026
“Anybody who disagrees with his notion of how war is to be fought, which is with incredible and relatively unrestrained ferocity, they’re also suspect.”
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
He identifies U.S. interests as he goes and pursues them with an unrestrained gusto.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 6, 2026
Her album “TANYA” is an unrestrained porteña whirlwind, rapidly shifting between industrial, electroclash, and doom metal, with all of these disparate influences coalescing on the highlight track “WANNA HOTEL.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025
The signal-burr brought all three to a halt, and the angry tumult of growingly unrestrained emotion froze.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
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.
