constraint means something that constrains; a restriction. It carries an Arena rating of 1621, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, constraint ranks #399 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,173 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,519 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #3,454 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
constraint is pronounced /kənˈstɹeɪnt/.
Why “constraint” is a great word
A limitation or restriction that compels, confines, or represses. From Middle English constreynt, constreynte, from Old French constreinte, the feminine past participle of constreindre ("to constrain"), from Latin cōnstringō ("to bind tightly, fetter"), first recorded in English between 1350 and 1400. Unlike "restriction," a broad rule that merely limits, or "inhibition," an internal psychological check, a constraint is the external press of the world against the body—the iron brace on the sapling, the sonnet's fourteen lines, the unyielding riverbank. It is not merely the absence of freedom, but the shape that necessity carves from desire.
Etymology
From Middle English constreynt, constreynte, from Old French constreinte, past participle of constreindre (“to constrain”), from Latin cōnstringō (corresponding to the past participle cōnstrictus).
noun
- Something that constrains; a restriction.e.g.“An engineer must recognize the difference between a constraint (to work within) and a problem (to be eliminated via resolution).”
- An irresistible force or compulsion.e.g.“They confessed, but only under severe constraint.”
- The repression of one's feelings.
- A condition that a solution to an optimization problem must satisfy.
- A linkage or other restriction that maintains database integrity.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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