Word.ws English Dictionary

restraining

restraining is the present participle and gerund of restrain.

Meaning of restrain

Verb (1)

restrain (third-person singular simple present restrains, present participle restraining, simple past and past participle restrained)

  1. (transitive) To control or keep in check.
    • As with vicarious mismenstruation, the abnormal cessation only requires strict attention to the general health, with such measures to restrain hemorrhage as have already been indicated.1875, Russell Thacher Trall, The Mother's Hygienic Hand-book, page 42
    Synonyms:
    check
  2. (transitive) To deprive of liberty.
    Synonyms:
    confine, detain
  3. (transitive) To restrict or limit.
    • He was restrained by the straitjacket.

Verb (2)

restrain (third-person singular simple present restrains, present participle restraining, simple past and past participle restrained)

  1. (transitive) To strain again.
    • Squeeze the juice from 3 oranges and let the juice stand. Then pour it off, strain, and mix with the syrup. Restrain the liquid and chill in a mold.1998, Elena Molokhovets, Classic Russian Cooking, page 360

Noun

restraining (plural restrainings)

  1. The act by which someone or something is restrained.
    • She had the privilege of a soul beyond our minor rules and restrainings to speak her wishes to the true wife of a mock husband—no husband; less a husband than this shadow of a woman a wife, she said; […]1895, George Meredith, The Amazing Marriage

Forms of restraining

pluralrestrainings

Phrases with restraining

Questions about restraining

What does restraining mean?
Restraining means the act by which someone or something is restrained.
What is restraining the present participle and gerund of?
Restraining is the present participle and gerund of restrain.
What part of speech is restraining?
Restraining is a noun.
What is the plural of restraining?
The plural of restraining is restrainings.

Words near restraining in the dictionary

  1. restrainedness
  2. restrainer
  3. restrainers
  4. restrainest
  5. restraineth
  6. restraining
  7. restraining order
  8. restraining orders
  9. restrainingly
  10. restrainings
  11. restrainment

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: restraining (page history and authors); restrain (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: “restraining.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/restraining. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.