constrained
/kənˈstɹeɪnd/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/kənˈstɹɛjnd/
constrained is the simple past and past participle of constrain.
Adjective
constrained (comparative more constrained, superlative most constrained)
- Kept within close bounds; confined.
- The epistle is opened and read—with a little wonder, most probably not a little vexation, at its constrained style.1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter III, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 54
- Forced; compelled.
Meaning of constrain
Verb
constrain (third-person singular simple present constrains, present participle constraining, simple past and past participle constrained)
- To force physically, by strong persuasion or pressuring; to compel; to oblige.
- To keep within close bounds; to confine.
- But it's not just Castlefield Corridor capacity that constrains services. All the junctions on the lines feeding into the corridor are flat, so they create conflict points as trains pass.2020 January 2, Philip Haigh, “Is there relief to congestion along Castlefield Corridor?”, in Rail, page 23
- To reduce a result in response to limited resources.
Forms of constrained
| comparative | more constrained |
|---|---|
| superlative | most constrained |
Words formed from constrained
Words that rhyme with constrained
- chained
- strained
- unrestrained
- drained
- ordained
- restrained
- stained
- sustained
- trained
- arraigned
- ascertained
- attained
25 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about constrained
- What does constrained mean?
- Constrained means kept within close bounds; confined.
- What is constrained the simple past and past participle of?
- Constrained is the simple past and past participle of constrain.
- What part of speech is constrained?
- Constrained is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce constrained?
- Constrained is pronounced /kənˈstɹeɪnd/.
Words near constrained in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: constrained (page history and authors); constrain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-constrained.wav.
Cite this entry: “constrained.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/constrained. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.