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say it: ree-STRAYN
restrain is a verb meaning "to close within bounds, or otherwise limit or deprive of free movement". It is pronounced /ɹiˈstɹeɪn/ — ree-STRAYN. It carries 4 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”
prevent (someone or something) from doing something
“security guards restrained the reporter from throwing another shoe”
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 restrain 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.