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restrain

verbverbattested in dialogue

  • //ɹɪˈstɹeɪn//

To control or keep in check.

verb

  1. 1

    To control or keep in check.

    As with vicarious mismenstruation, the abnormal cessation only requires strict attention to the general health, with such measures to restrain hemorrhage as have already been indicated.

  2. 2

    To deprive of liberty.

  3. 3

    To restrict or limit.

    He was restrained by the straitjacket.

    In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […] The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.

Etymology

From Middle English restreinen, from Old French restreindre, from Latin rēstringere (“fasten, tighten”).

verb

  1. 1

    To strain again.

    Squeeze the juice from 3 oranges and let the juice stand. Then pour it off, strain, and mix with the syrup. Restrain the liquid and chill in a mold.

Etymology

From re- + strain.

Forms

past tense
restrained
past participle
restrained
present participle
restraining
third person singular
restrains
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).