- The threat or use of force to prevent, restrict, or dictate the action or thought of others.
- The state of being restricted or confined within prescribed bounds: soon tired of the constraint of military life.
- One that restricts, limits, or regulates; a check: ignored all moral constraints in his pursuit of success.
- Embarrassed reserve or reticence; awkwardness: "All constraint had vanished between the two, and they began to talk" (Edith Wharton).
[Middle English constreinte, from Old French, from feminine past participle of constraindre, to constrain. See constrain.]





