Word.ws English Dictionary

withstraint

withstraint noun: the act or process of withstraining; restraint.

Noun

withstraint (uncountable)

  1. (rare) The act or process of withstraining; restraint.
    • Thousands of slaves were better off by far than they have been subsequent to liberation, and it is a fact that speaks volumes for the much discussed and criticized slaveholders, that numbers of emancipated slaves refused to accept their freedom, while many more, who went away delighted at the...1895, James Cox, My Native Land: The United States, page 246
    • But no withstraint was put on the fishing and the oyster banks gave out.1911, Arthur Bullard, Panama: The Canal, the Country, and the People, page 366

Examples of withstraint in a sentence

  • Miller of New York City, certainly gave a fine talk on "Withstraint and Treatment of Cats."1925, Veterinary Medicine, volume 20, page 494:
  • He realized that he had come into contact with a new force - culture and convention which were the products of generations of withstraint and careful training.1933, Basil Fuller, The Life Story of the Rt. Hon. J. H. Thomas, page 73:
  • The exceptions to this withstraint are the heart centre, the spleen, and two minor centres connected with the breathing apparatus.1953, Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on the Seven Rays: The New Psychology:
  • The evaluation will also look into cases where existing pipe break location and pipe withstraint are not impacted by this power uprate.2002, Mahendra D. Rana, Pressure Vessel and Piping Codes and Standards, page 296:

Origin of withstraint

From withstrain, modelled after restraint. Equivalent to with- + straint.

Questions about withstraint

What does withstraint mean?
Withstraint means the act or process of withstraining; restraint.
How do you use withstraint in a sentence?
Miller of New York City, certainly gave a fine talk on "Withstraint and Treatment of Cats."
What part of speech is withstraint?
Withstraint is a noun.

Words near withstraint in the dictionary

  1. withstood
  2. withstrain
  3. withstrained
  4. withstraining
  5. withstrains
  6. withstraint
  7. withtake
  8. withtaken
  9. withtakes
  10. withtaking
  11. withthrew

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: withstraint (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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