restrain

English

Etymology

Middle French restraindre, from Latin rēstringō (“fasten, tighten”)

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -eɪn

Verb

restrain (third-person singular simple present restrains, present participle restraining, simple past and past participle restrained)

1. (transitive)   To control or keep in check.
2. (transitive)   To deprive of liberty.
3. (transitive)   To restrict or limit.
   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19: 

     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.

Derived terms

• restraint

Related terms

• constrain

Translations

to control or keep in check

• Czech: mít pod kontrolou (cs)
• French: retenir (fr)
• German: (formally) zügeln (de)
• Italian: trattenersi (it), trattenere (it)

• Latin: teneo (la)
• Portuguese: conter (pt), coibir (pt), deter (pt)
• Russian: обуздывать (ru) (obuzdyvatʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: srian (gd)

to deprive of liberty

• Czech: zbavit svobody (cs), omezit (cs)
• French: réprimer (fr)
• German: einschränken (de), behindern (de)

• Portuguese: encarcerar (pt), reprimir (pt)
• Russian: заключать (ru) (zaključatʹ)

to restrict or limit

• Czech: oklešťovat (cs), restringovat (cs), provést restrikci (cs), omezit (cs)
• French: restreindre (fr)
• German: abgrenzen (de), begrenzen (de), eingrenzen (de)
• Portuguese: restringir (pt), conter (pt)

• Romanian: restrânge (ro)
• Russian: сдерживать (ru) (sderživatʹ), ограничивать (ru) (ograničivatʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: srian (gd)

Anagrams

• arrestin
• retrains
• strainer
• terrains
• trainers
• transire