restrain
pronunciation
How to pronounce restrain in British English:
UK [rɪˈstreɪn]
How to pronounce restrain in American English:
US [rɪˈstreɪn]
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- Verb:
- keep under control; keep in check
- place limits on (extent or access)
- to close within bounds, limit or hold back from movement
- hold back
- to compel or deter by or as if by threats
Word Origin
- restrain
- restrain: see strain
- restrain (v.)
- mid-14c., from stem of Old French restreindre "press, push together; curb, bridle; bandage" (12c.), from Latin restringere "draw back tightly, confine, check" (see restriction). Related: Restrained; restraining. That which we restrain we keep within limits; that which we restrict we keep within certain definite limits; that which we repress we try to put out of existence. [Century Dictionary, 1902]
Example
- 1. Inflation is stable because there is less idle capacity to restrain prices .
- 2. The work suggests that the hormone may restrain aggression in stressful situations .
- 3. Urban planners continue to believe they can restrain suburbia and improve upon it .
- 4. To cope with it , they urged human beings to restrain their overarching ambitions .
- 5. Unless governments restrain those impulses , they will undermine the gains from rising investment .