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constrain

[kuhn-streyn]

verb (used with object)

to force, compel, or oblige: He was constrained to admit the offense.

to confine forcibly, as by bonds.

to repress or restrain: Cold weather constrained the plant's growth.

Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English constrei(g)nen < Anglo-French, Middle French constrei(g)n- (stem of constreindre) < Latin constringere. See con-, strain¹

Related forms

con·strain·a·ble, adjective

con·strain·er, noun

con·strain·ing·ly, adverb

non·con·strain·ing, adjective

un·con·strain·a·ble, adjective

EXPAND

un·con·strain·ing, adjective

COLLAPSE

Can be confused: coerce, compel, constrain, force, oblige (see synonym note at oblige).

Synonyms
1. coerce. 2. check, bind.

Antonyms
2. free.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Constrain is a GRE word you need to know.

So is conceal. Does it mean:

withdraw or remove from observation

to accord in opinion

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Example Sentences

They may be my fences, but they constrain me as surely as they constrain the horses.

Or maybe my mother didn't want to constrain my creativity and allowed me to run roughshod over conversations.

Europe has learnt from its experience of trying to constrain emissions, and is getting better at it.

EXPAND

They may be my fences, but they constrain me as surely as they constrain the horses.

Or maybe my mother didn't want to constrain my creativity and allowed me to run roughshod over conversations.

Europe has learnt from its experience of trying to constrain emissions, and is getting better at it.

These ingredients limit the chemical reactions that can happen inside cells and so constrain what life can do.

Usenet posters didn't constrain themselves to tech subjects.

Jacksonville, believes that the language used by cancer patients and their supporters can galvanize or constrain them.

So it's public regulation to constrain private regulation.

Not only does this constrain the usual hyperbolic marketing.

But this doesn't mean that our genes necessarily constrain our potential for greatness.

Forces that do whatever they can to constrain an object.

Tighter credit conditions imposed by many banks could constrain the rebound.

Topics include how animals' consumption behavior may constrain or modify plant ontogenetic patterns.

And interest rates in one country constrain those elsewhere more than before.

Before that, ancient waters flowed wide and shallow over the land, with little to constrain them other than mountains.

We also tried to constrain this list to games that will actually come out this year.

Some foreign attempts to constrain press freedom are more understandable than others.

There is no budget to limit ambition, no building codes to constrain imagination.

Moreover, it would not face the problems that constrain the accuracy of curved lenses and so could make a perfect lens.

We have to live with our past actions, but lets act with constrain in the future want to know more.

And once you start understanding this about yourself, then you can structure things so that you constrain your future behavior.

These dependences constrain a newspaper in a variety of ways.

What you can do is constrain supply, but then you get into the issue of free will.

The government has no intention of letting hostility to airports constrain the industry's growth.

If so, it could also constrain the upper boundary of time required for humans to develop functional genetic adaptations.

He's trying to constrain my petals from opening and letting the bees sip from my nectar.

Drone attacks create a sense of insecurity among militants and constrain their interactions with suspected informers.

However, the persistence of debt will subsequently constrain homebuyers' ability to trade up in the market.

Scientific journals want peer review because they have a constrain of printing pages, and want best articles in them.

In the long run, the shackles built by programmers may well constrain us most.

Consumers are still heavily indebted, which will constrain further growth in spending.

We should take full advantage of this, and step one involves casting out types of imagery which constrain rather than enlighten.

But the giveaways may come at the expense of investment and social spending, which will constrain future growth.

Since you want precision from others please constrain yourself to the same principle.

The bill of rights must not constrain speech or our lives and property, but rather constrain government.

Overcrowding and a shortage of resources constrain bug populations.

Devising a fuel tank to constrain hydrogen has always been a challenge.

Because they are labouring to pay down debts, consumption is and will remain depressed, and that must inevitably constrain growth.

If this is your picture of the world, then you want to constrain finance.

The fact that so many homeowners are sunk in negative equity will also constrain mobility.

Gates and the nation's top generals have said the preamble language would not constrain missile defense.

The detritals are actually helping constrain the timing of deposition.

Moscow's foreign policy is increasingly driven by the belief that major world powers are seeking to constrain the rise of its.

But ultimately, these laptops constrain what you can.

It will constrain your ability to make certain decisions, but that's not really a bad thing.

Yet the potentially huge cost of reforming them will constrain the government's ability to finance economic growth.

Private foundations must constrain themselves to lobbying on policies that directly affect them.

Do not constrain the level of complexity in your displays.

Congress should let the marketplace develop rather than constrain it with regulation.

The allocation to one does not in any way constrain the allocation to the other.

How can you argue that language does not constrain thinking.

Nature evolved genes to constrain energy as long as possible and to replicate for augmenting the amount of constrained energy.

His own methods constrain his treatment of philosophical issues in many ways.

If the fiat dollar has to compete with the gold dollar, that will constrain the ability of the feds to print dollars at will.

Both ploys demand new thinking to enhance our elections, not constrain them in partisan ways.

The battle to constrain the power of moneyed interests must be fought over and over.

Modern democracies may empower deep prejudices and thus constrain female leaders in ways that ancient monarchies did not.

Powerful interests and political traditions continue to constrain efforts to cut subsidies.

But high unemployment and large debt burdens continue to constrain household spending.

At the beginning, some riders feared that any mainstream contest would constrain them.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

constrain (kənˈstreɪn)

—vb
1.	to compel or force, esp by persuasion, circumstances, etc; oblige
2.	to restrain by or as if by force; confine

[C14: from Old French constreindre, from Latin constringere to bind together, from stringere to bind]

con'strainer

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

constrain

mid-14c., from stem of O.Fr. constreindre, from L. constringere "to bind together, tie tightly," from com- "together" + stringere "to draw tight" (see strain (v.)).

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Related Words

astrict bridle distrain force impel

impel oblige pair strain

Matching Quote

"Wherever a man goes, men will pursue him and paw him with their dirty institutions, and, if they can, constrain him to belong to their desperate odd-fellow society."

-Henry David Thoreau

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