Constrain
[kən'streɪn] or [kən'stren]
Definition
(v. t.) To secure by bonds; to chain; to bond or confine; to hold tightly; to constringe.
(v. t.) To bring into a narrow compass; to compress.
(v. t.) To hold back by force; to restrain; to repress.
(v. t.) To compel; to force; to necessitate; to oblige.
(v. t.) To violate; to ravish.
(v. t.) To produce in such a manner as to give an unnatural effect; as, a constrained voice.
Editor: Yvonne
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Compel, force, drive, oblige, coerce.[2]. Confine, restrain, inthral, hold, curb, put under restraint, keep down, keep under.
Checker: Micawber
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See COERCE]
Editor: Miriam
Definition
v.t. to urge with irresistible power: to force compel: to distress: to confine: to limit: to cause constraint.—adj. Constrain′able.—p.adj. Constrained′ forced compelled: embarrassed.—adv. Constrain′edly.—n. Constraint′ irresistible force: compulsion: confinement: repression of one's feelings: embarrassment.
Typed by Brian
Examples
- I heard of the outrage,' said Bradley, trying to constrain his working mouth, 'but I had not heard the end of it. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- But I constrain no man to converse or to feed with him. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- O for the lyre of some Orpheus, to constrain, with touch of melodious strings, these mad masses into Order! H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Is it not possible that graft is the cracking and bursting of the receptacles in which we have tried to constrain the business of this country? Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Suppression of so much to make room for so much, had given him a constrained manner, over and above. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Mrs. Rouncewell is constrained to admit that he is in the house. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The assemblies for three years held out against this injustice, though constrained to bend at last. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- It makes instruction and learning formal, mechanical, constrained. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- In the last degree constrained, reserved, diffident, troubled. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Now I am so pressed by the Guises and my own people that _I am constrained_ to deliver you up into the hands of your enemies, and to-morrow you will be burned unless you are converted. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- You have told me several times that you pity me, and I, in my turn, pity you, who have used the words _I am constrained_. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- I describe everything exactly as it took place, constraining my mind not to wander from the task. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- He constrains himself to touch him. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
Typed by Carolyn