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View synonyms for constraint

constraint

[ kuhn-streynt ]

noun

  1. limitation or restriction.

    Synonyms: pressure, obligation, force

  2. repression of natural feelings and impulses:

    to practice constraint.

  3. unnatural restraint in manner, conversation, etc.; embarrassment.
  4. something that constrains.
  5. the act of constraining.
  6. the condition of being constrained. constrain.
  7. Linguistics. a restriction on the operation of a linguistic rule or the occurrence of a linguistic construction.


constraint

/ kənˈstreɪnt /

noun

  1. compulsion, force, or restraint
  2. repression or control of natural feelings or impulses
  3. a forced unnatural manner; inhibition
  4. something that serves to constrain; restrictive condition

    social constraints kept him silent

  5. linguistics any very general restriction on a sentence formation rule


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Other Words From

  • noncon·straint noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of constraint1

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English constreinte, from Middle French, noun use of feminine past participle of constreindre “to constrain”; constrain

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Example Sentences

The resulting annual bill was enormous, though USPS has skipped billions in payments since 2010, according to the USPS Office of Inspector General, citing financial constraints.

Some of the strongest constraints you have on those models are within the solar system, because we understand gravity so well here.

Production constraints and supply hoarding could complicate manufacturing.

Researchers have been warning for months that production constraints and hoarding could limit Covid-19 vaccine supplies.

From Quartz

The payoff was a liberating and original way of viewing your own society, denuded of its specialness and its constraints.

“They kept saying there was a time constraint, I had to make a decision,” she said.

In short, Mr. Obama feels no constraint in faithfully executing the laws as written by the Congress.

Gravity is transformed from the constraint that holds us dully to Earth into the power that lets us fly.

Immigration is even less "easy", because the main constraint on foriegn doctors is not visas, but residency slots.

We need to be prudent; in an era of budget constraint, I think it will turn out that little fixes will have the greatest payoff.

In that case, Valerie, you shall suffer no constraint; you shall continue here as you have done.

Austerity banishes familiarity from family life and engenders constraint.

His gestures, his manner, showed trace of it in a certain constraint, a sort of hesitating distrust.

At lunch Susan, between Liosha and Jaffery, became the centre of attention and saved conversation from constraint.

So, after a little constraint and coldness, he began to stand in much the same relation to him as before.

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constrainedconstrict