CONSTRAIN • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Constrain

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/kənstrˈeɪn/ Listen

verb

Constrain v. t. (past & past part. constrained; pres. part. constraining)

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." "When winter frosts constrain the fields with cold."

To bring into a narrow compass; to compress. "How the strait stays the slender waist constrain."

To hold back by force; to restrain; to repress. "My sire in caves constrains the winds."

To compel; to force; to necessitate; to oblige. "The love of Christ constraineth us." "I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar."

To violate; to ravish. (Obs.)

To produce in such a manner as to give an unnatural effect; as, a constrained voice.

Synonyms: To compel; force; drive; impel; urge; press.

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Etymology of 'Constrain'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Constrain" Quotes from Famous Books

... to call anything good except the true good, from which thou, O king, art miserably sundered and alienated. Wherefore also we ourselves were alienated and separated from thee, because thou wert falling into plain and manifest destruction, and wouldst constrain us also to descend into like peril. But as long as we were tried in the warfare of this world, we failed in no point of duty. Thou thyself will bear me witness that we were never charged ...

— Barlaam and Ioasaph • St. John of Damascus

... perpetually told, that, without a God there would be no moral obligation; that the people and even the sovereigns require a legislator powerful enough to constrain them. Moral constraint supposes a law; but this law arises from the eternal and necessary relations of things with one another; relations, which have nothing common with the existence of a God. The rules of Man's conduct are ...

— Good Sense - 1772 • Paul Henri Thiry, Baron D'Holbach

... contrary to my wishes, for I had repeatedly given him to understand by every mode short of an express request that he should resign." On the fifth day of August (1867), the President addressed Mr. Stanton a brief note in these words: "Public considerations of a high character constrain me to say that your resignation as Secretary of War will be accepted." Mr. Stanton replied immediately, acknowledging the receipt of the letter and adding: "I have the honor to say that public ...

— Twenty Years of Congress, Volume 2 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine

... comes a foreigner! A Jew of Cyrene! Harmless and inoffensive, gladly would he make way for the crowd. Why should he not bear this burden under which Jesus of Nazareth is falling to the ground? The insolent soldiers, with oath and jest, constrain him, and he dares not resist. Probably Simon had no previous knowledge of Him for whom he bore this load, and loathed the service he was compelled to render; but that compulsory companionship with Jesus carried him to Calvary. He beheld the ...

— Love to the Uttermost - Expositions of John XIII.-XXI. • F. B. Meyer

... ledges, in comparison, are of eternity. One pokes about them as he would about ruins, and with something of the same feeling. They are ruins of the fore world. Here the foundations of the hills were laid; here the earth-giants wrought and builded. They constrain one to silence and meditation; the whispering and rustling trees seem ...

— Locusts and Wild Honey • John Burroughs

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