"constrain" meaning in English

See constrain in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /kənˈstreɪn/ Audio: en-us-constrain.ogg [US] Forms: constrain [canonical], constrains [third-person, singular], constrained [past], constrained [past, participle], constraining [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If you constrain a person, you force them to follow a certain way of doing things. Synonyms: compel, oblige
    Sense id: simple-constrain-en-verb-EiyUBvXa
     
{
  "forms": [
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      "form": "constrain",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "constrains",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
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      "form": "constrained",
      "tags": [
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    {
      "form": "constrained",
      "tags": [
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        "participle"
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    {
      "form": "constraining",
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      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "con‧strain",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "If you constrain a person, you force them to follow a certain way of doing things."
      ],
      "id": "simple-constrain-en-verb-EiyUBvXa",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "compel"
        },
        {
          "word": "oblige"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kənˈstreɪn/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-constrain.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "constrain"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "constrain",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "constrains",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "constrained",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "constrained",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "constraining",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "con‧strain",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you constrain a person, you force them to follow a certain way of doing things."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "compel"
        },
        {
          "word": "oblige"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kənˈstreɪn/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-constrain.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "constrain"
}

Download raw JSONL data for constrain meaning in English (0.8kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-26 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-04-20 using wiktextract (89e900c and ea19a0a). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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