The Collaborative International Dictionary
Constrain \Con*strain"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Constrained; p. pr. & vb. n. Constraining.] [OF. constraindre, F. contrainde, L. constringere; con- + stringere to draw tight. See Strain, and. cf. Constrict, Constringe.]
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To secure by bonds; to chain; to bond or confine; to hold tightly; to constringe.
He binds in chains The drowsy prophet, and his limbs constrains.
--Dryden.When winter frosts constrain the fields with cold.
--Dryden. -
To bring into a narrow compass; to compress.
How the strait stays the slender waist constrain.
--Gay. -
To hold back by force; to restrain; to repress.
My sire in caves constrains the winds.
--Dryden. -
To compel; to force; to necessitate; to oblige.
The love of Christ constraineth us.
--2. Cor. v. 14.I was constrained to appeal unto C[ae]sar.
--Acts xxviii. 19. To violate; to ravish. [Obs.]
--Shak.-
To produce in such a manner as to give an unnatural effect; as, a constrained voice.
Syn: To compel; force; drive; impel; urge; press.
Wiktionary
n. The act by which something is constrained. vb. (present participle of constrain English)
WordNet
adj. restricting the scope or freedom of action [syn: confining, constrictive, limiting, restricting]
Usage examples of "constraining".
I embody the "Formulae" (the ways in which causes and effects influence disease) in a "Ritual" (my personal style of constraining sickness to conform with my will).
It is perfectly true that when Bill Sykes desires to possess Nancy, he does in fact evoke a spirit of the nature of Venus, constraining him by his Oath of Love (and by his magical power as a man) to bring him the girl.
She kept her eyes fixed steadily in front of her, and indeed she spoke without feeling on one side or the other, but rather like a person constraining herself to speech because speech was a necessity.
He had sat at the table constraining himself to the semblance of high spirits.
She will, undoubtedly, add a personal flair here or there, but by so tightly constraining the format of her work, we are blinding ourselves to all but a slender view of her abilities.
As tersept, for example, I feel a constant shortage of coins constraining me from hiring and equipping men enough to patrol the Storn lands as diligently as I would wish.
As the magic brightened around her father, constraining and then quieting him, she sat back against the headboard with a sigh.
But, God it wot, there may no man embrace As to distrain* a thing, which that nature *succeed in constraining Hath naturally set in a creature.
The nine spheres are God, or the highest heaven, constraining and containing all the others.
As a partial solution, men sometimes laid rows of static, unpowered black or white pieces along the rim of the playing field, to try constraining the action.
Frantically, Maia overcame muscle spasms to worm out of the constraining harness, awkwardly kicking free with a relieved sense of release.
Ehomba was about to say something when the swordsman put a constraining hand on his arm.
He should have edited that long ago—yet he did not trust himself to act without this constraining guilt.