Dictionary
con•straint
Pronunciation: (kun-strānt'), [key]—
n.
1. limitation or restriction.
2. repression of natural feelings and impulses:
to practice constraint.
3. unnatural restraint in manner, conversation, etc.; embarrassment.
4. something that constrains.
5. the act of constraining.
6. the condition of being constrained.
7. Ling.a restriction on the operation of a linguistic rule or the occurrence of a linguistic construction.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.