Loading page
say it: kuhn-STRAYN
constrain is a verb meaning "compel to behave in a certain way". It carries 3 recorded senses.
to close within bounds, or otherwise limit or deprive of free movement
“This holds the local until the express passengers change trains”
“About a dozen animals were held inside the stockade”
“The illegal immigrants were held at a detention center”
“The terrorists held the journalists for ransom”
severely restrict in scope or extent
“tighten the rules”
“stiffen the regulations”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for constrain come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.