CONSTRAIN • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Constrain

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/kənstrˈeɪn/ Listen

verb

Constrain v. t. (past & past part. constrained; pres. part. constraining)

To secure by bonds; to chain; to bond or confine; to hold tightly; to constringe. "He binds in chains The drowsy prophet, and his limbs constrains." "When winter frosts constrain the fields with cold."

To bring into a narrow compass; to compress. "How the strait stays the slender waist constrain."

To hold back by force; to restrain; to repress. "My sire in caves constrains the winds."

To compel; to force; to necessitate; to oblige. "The love of Christ constraineth us." "I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar."

To violate; to ravish. (Obs.)

To produce in such a manner as to give an unnatural effect; as, a constrained voice.

Synonyms: To compel; force; drive; impel; urge; press.

See images of 'Constrain'

Etymology of 'Constrain'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Constrain" Quotes from Famous Books

... coy Amyntas run, From a despairing Lover's Story? When her Eyes have Conquest won, Why should her Ear refuse the Glory: Shall a Slave, whose Racks constrain, Be forbidden to complain; Let her scorn me, let her Fly me, Let her Looks, her Love deny me: Ne'er shall my Heart yield to despair, Or my Tongue cease to tell my Care, Or my Tongue cease to tell my Care: Much to love, and much to pray, Is to Heav'n ...

— Wit and Mirth: or Pills to Purge Melancholy, Vol. 5 of 6 • Various

... area, and the government is trying to revitalize the banana industry. Saint Lucia is vulnerable to a variety of external shocks including declines in European Union banana preferences, volatile tourism receipts, natural disasters, and dependence on foreign oil. High debt servicing obligations constrain the KING administration's ability to respond to adverse external shocks. Economic fundamentals remain solid, even though unemployment needs ...

— The 2008 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... legitimate place in a scheme of love. And there is nothing more admirable in his attitude, or more inspiring in his teaching, than the manly frankness with which he endeavours to confront the manifold miseries of human life, and to constrain them to yield, as their ultimate meaning and reality, ...

— Browning as a Philosophical and Religious Teacher • Henry Jones

... had formerly been.[364] In the "possessive singular of nouns already ending in s" Mr. Masson tells us, "Milton's general practice is not to double the s; thus, Nereus wrinkled look, Glaucus spell. The necessities of metre would naturally constrain to such forms. In a possessive followed by the word sake or the word side, dislike to [of] the double sibilant makes us sometimes drop the inflection. In addition to 'for righteousness' sake' such phrases as 'for thy name sake' and 'for mercy sake,' are allowed ...

— Among My Books • James Russell Lowell

... but how to leave Their children wit as they do wealth, And could constrain them to receive That physic which brings perfect health, The world would not admiring stand A woman's face ...

— Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age • Various

More quotes...