Word.ws English Dictionary

fettered

UK/ˈfɛtəd/US/ˈfɛtɚd/

fettered is the simple past and past participle of fetter.

Adjective

fettered (comparative more fettered, superlative most fettered)

  1. Bound by chains or shackles.
    Synonyms:
    bound, chained, shackled
  2. (broadly) Restricted.
    Synonyms:
    restricted
  3. Of the feet: bent backward and apparently unfit for walking.

Meaning of fetter

Verb

fetter (third-person singular simple present fetters, present participle fettering, simple past and past participle fettered)

  1. (transitive) To shackle or bind up with fetters.
    • The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced...1788 June, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, “Mr. Sheridan’s Speech, on Summing Up the Evidence on the Second, or Begum Charge against Warren Hastings, Esq., Delivered before the High Court of Parliament...
  2. (transitive) To restrain or impede; to hamper.

See all 5 meanings of fetter

Synonyms of fettered

Antonyms

Forms of fettered

comparativemore fettered
superlativemost fettered

Questions about fettered

What does fettered mean?
Fettered means bound by chains or shackles.
What is fettered the simple past and past participle of?
Fettered is the simple past and past participle of fetter.
What part of speech is fettered?
Fettered is an adjective.
How do you pronounce fettered?
Fettered is pronounced /ˈfɛtəd/ (UK).

Words near fettered in the dictionary

  1. Fette
  2. fettelite
  3. fetter
  4. fetterbush
  5. fetterbushes
  6. fettered
  7. fetterer
  8. fetterers
  9. Fetterhoff
  10. Fetterhoffs
  11. fettering

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fettered (page history and authors); fetter (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.

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Cite this entry: “fettered.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fettered. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.