constraint

1. 1.

   the state of being physically constrained

   “dogs should be kept under restraint”

   Synonymsrestraint

   Broaderconfinement

   Narrowercage
2. 2.

   a device that retards something's motion

   “the car did not have proper restraints fitted”

   Synonymsrestraint

   Broaderdevice

   Narrowerair bagairbrakearresterbandbrakebrake padbrake shoecatchchainfastener
3. 3.

   the act of constraining; the threat or use of force to control the thoughts or behavior of others

   Broaderrestriction

   Narrowerswaddling clothes

Other forms of constraint

plural

constraints·

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.

Questions about constraint

What does constraint mean?

constraint means "the state of being physically constrained". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in constraint?

constraint has 2 syllables: con-straint. The stress falls on "straint". In IPA it is /kənˈstɹeɪnt/.

What is another word for constraint?

Close synonyms include restraint, restraint. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is constraint a common word?

constraint is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with constraint?

1 word rhymes with constraint. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.