constraining


Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms.

con·strain

 (kən-strān′)
tr.v. con·strained, con·strain·ing, con·strains
1.
a. To keep within certain limits; confine or limit: "Legislators ... used the power of the purse to constrain the size of the military" (Julian E. Zelizer).
b. To inhibit or restrain; hold back: "She noticed her mother blushing and acting somewhat constrained in her conversation with the grandmother" (David Huddle).
2. To compel by physical, moral, or circumstantial force; oblige: felt constrained to object to his behavior.
3. To produce in a forced or inhibited manner: "This smile seemed to touch something off in her ... and playfully she constrained her own roguish smile" (Naeem Murr).

[Middle English constreinen, from Old French constraindre, constraign-, from Latin cōnstringere, to restrain, compress : com-, com- + stringere, to bind, press together; see streig- in Indo-European roots.]

con·strain′a·ble adj.
con·strain′ed·ly (-strā′nĭd-lē) adv.
con·strain′er n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.constraining - restricting the scope or freedom of action
restrictive - serving to restrict; "teenagers eager to escape restrictive home environments"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
And, as he drew towards the close, a spirit as of prophecy had come upon him, constraining him to its purpose as mightily as the old prophets of Israel were constrained, only with this difference, that, whereas the Jewish seers had denounced judgments and ruin on their country, it was his mission to foretell a high and glorious destiny for the newly gathered people of the Lord.
A constraining 6x27 mm balloon-expandable Express LD stent (Boston Scientific) was deployed in the hepatic parenchymal tract (Fig.
e ONS said: "Taken together, the factors constraining demand such as weak mortgage lending and high house prices, coupled with those constraining supply such as skill shortages and tight funding conditions, may have limited construction output growth in January 2015."
Having the findings that a Medicaid pediatric ACO improves quality while constraining costs should encourage the more widespread adoption of this model.
The Bank's small size and limited market share are also constraining factors.
A constraining pit shell and a dollar equivalent cut-off have been applied to the 3D block model to ensure reasonable prospects of economic extraction for the reported resources.
A STRETCH of the M4 between Cardiff and Newport is a "constant concern" that is constraining investment opportunities, a report has found.
Therefore, he examines the invocation of originalism (through the use of prominent originalist sources such as The Federalist Papers) in the opinions of the US Supreme Court over the course of its history in order to examine its constraining effects.
The constraining process destroyed the least-squares fitting character of the Modified Quadratic Shepard method.
Further the fragmented nature of the industry imparting limited pricing power also acts as a constraining factor.
For example, when I constrained the right-angle and the two equal sides (SAS), an attempt to fix the attitude of the triangle by constraining the slope of the hypotenuse was too much for the system.

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