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Constraint   /kənstrˈeɪnt/   Listen
noun
Constraint  n.  The act of constraining, or the state of being constrained; that which compels to, or restrains from, action; compulsion; restraint; necessity. "Long imprisonment and hard constraint." "Not by constraint, but by my choice, I came."
Synonyms: Compulsion; violence; necessity; urgency. Constraint, Compulsion. Constraint implies strong binding force; as, the constraint of necessity; the constraint of fear. Compulsion implies the exertion of some urgent impelling force; as, driven by compulsion. The former prevents us from acting agreeably to our wishes; the latter forces us to act contrary to our will. Compulsion is always produced by some active agent; a constraint may be laid upon us by the forms of civil society, or by other outward circumstances.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Constraint" Quotes from Famous Books



... English the fact that words of a certain kind meet a more hospitable reception in the spoken language than they do in literature. The writer of comedy or farce, the humorist, and the man in the street do not feel the constraint which the canons of good usage put on the serious writer. They coin new words or use old words in a new way or use new constructions without much hesitation. The extraordinary material progress of the modern world during the last century has undoubtedly stimulated this tendency ...
— The Common People of Ancient Rome - Studies of Roman Life and Literature • Frank Frost Abbott

... his knee to the Maker, who recites or sings His praises, who devoutly makes the sign of the cross, who assists without constraint at the public services of the Church, who observes an exterior decorum in the house of God, who gives to the needy according to his means and duly attends to the other practices and ceremonies of religion, will generally be one whose heart is united to God, and who yields to Him a ready ...
— The Faith of Our Fathers • James Cardinal Gibbons

... at the irony of the argument, and their laugh did much to do away with the constraint, the tension of their mood. More gayly she mentioned ...
— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick

... meet you, My sight was set elsewhere, I sheered about to shun you, And lent your life no care. I was unprimed to greet you At such a date and place, Constraint alone had won you Vision ...
— Late Lyrics and Earlier • Thomas Hardy

... are not in the position of the continental Churches. No constraint is upon you. You can get Episcopacy, if you desire it. Neither does the Church of England stand relatively towards you, as the Gallican Church towards the Huguenots. You admit the purity of our doctrine, and do not consider our discipline unscriptural. If ...
— The Story of My Life - Being Reminiscences of Sixty Years' Public Service in Canada • Egerton Ryerson


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