Word.ws English Dictionary

in check

in check prepositional phrase: under restraint or control.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Under restraint or control.
    • It was a sudden meeting, and one in which rapture was kept well in check by pain.1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XI, in Jane Eyre. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 267
    • The old feelings, so religiously held in check, were stimulated to rebelliousness, though they did not show themselves in any direct manner as yet.1880, Thomas Hardy, chapter 37, in The Trumpet Major
    Synonyms:
    inhibited

Examples of in check in a sentence

  • I . . . espied a small cave, excellent suited to our defence and where two determined men might hold in check a whole army.1921, Jeffery Farnol, chapter 30, in Martin Conisby's Vengeance:
  • Scott also has schizoaffective bipolar disorder, a mental illness she keeps in check with a low dose of Zyprexa.2008 December 3, Kate Torgovnick, “Why Do the Mentally Ill Die Younger?”, in Time:

Synonyms of in check

Questions about in check

What does in check mean?
In check means under restraint or control.
How do you use in check in a sentence?
I . . . espied a small cave, excellent suited to our defence and where two determined men might hold in check a whole army.
What part of speech is in check?
In check is a prepositional phrase.

Words near in check in the dictionary

  1. in capital letters
  2. in case
  3. in case of
  4. in character
  5. in charge
  6. in check
  7. in chief
  8. in chorus
  9. in church every time the doors are open
  10. in circles
  11. in circulation

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: in check (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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