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Constraint   /kənstrˈeɪnt/   Listen
noun
Constraint  n.  The act of constraining, or the state of being constrained; that which compels to, or restrains from, action; compulsion; restraint; necessity. "Long imprisonment and hard constraint." "Not by constraint, but by my choice, I came."
Synonyms: Compulsion; violence; necessity; urgency. Constraint, Compulsion. Constraint implies strong binding force; as, the constraint of necessity; the constraint of fear. Compulsion implies the exertion of some urgent impelling force; as, driven by compulsion. The former prevents us from acting agreeably to our wishes; the latter forces us to act contrary to our will. Compulsion is always produced by some active agent; a constraint may be laid upon us by the forms of civil society, or by other outward circumstances.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Constraint" Quotes from Famous Books



... suspicion of some one else, and there was a general constraint, as though even the innocent feared to do or say something that ...
— The Film Mystery • Arthur B. Reeve

... grace.'"[5] The Sheriff, as Chamberlain, no doubt favourably represented to the King Michael's excuse, as the subsequent conduct of both the Earl of Strathearn and himself showed a fellow-feeling, and that, like Michael, they had been acting under constraint. ...
— Chronicles of Strathearn • Various

... modifying his last observation, "if women are not all eyes and ears! I neither heard nor saw all that. A little constraint—a natural blush to punctuate their talk—the meeting seemed conventional enough. 'Tis through your own romantic heart you ...
— Under the Rose • Frederic Stewart Isham

... the manner of the Secretary was cordial; but with this cordiality was a strange constraint and diffidence, almost amounting to timidity, which struck both my companion and myself. Contrasting his manner with the quiet dignity of the Colonel, I almost fancied our positions reversed,—that, instead of our being ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 • Various

... be deprived of earthly elevation and power—what cared she that she henceforth would no more have the pleasure of commanding others? She was free, free from the task of ruling slaves and humanizing barbarians; free from the constraint of greatness, and, finally free to live in conformity with her own inclinations, and perhaps, ah, perhaps, to found a happiness, the bare dreaming of which already caused her heart to ...
— The Daughter of an Empress • Louise Muhlbach


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