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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



79 words match “CONSTRAIN”

CONSTRAIN v. 6 definitions
re by bonds; to chain; to bond or con He binds in hains The droway prophet, and his limbs constrains. Dryden. When winter frosts constrain the fields with old. Dryden.
CONSTRAINABLE a.
Capable of being constrained; liable to constraint, or to restraint. Hooker.
CONSTRAINED a.
Marked by constraint; not free; not voluntary; embarrassed; as, a constrained manner; a constrained tone.
CONSTRAINEDLY adv.
By constraint or compulsion; in a constrained manner. Hooker.
CONSTRAINER n.
One who constrains.
CONSTRAINT n.
The act of constraining, or the state of being constrained; that which compels to, or restrains from, action; compulsion; restraint; necessity. Long imprisonment and hard constraint. Spenser. Not by constraint, but bDryden.
CONSTRAINTIVE a.
Constraining; compulsory. [R.] "Any constraintive vow." R. Carew.
UNCONSTRAINT n.
Freedom from constraint; ease. Felton.
ABANDON n.
A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease.
ASTRICT v.
To bind; to constrain; to restrict; to limit. [R.] The mind is astricted to certain necessary modes or forms of thought. Sir W. Hamilton.
BOUND p.
Constrained or compelled; destined; certain; -- followed by the infinitive; as, he is bound to succeed; he is bound to fail.
COACTIVE a.
Serving to compel or constrain; compulsory; restrictive. Any coactive power or the civil kind. Bp. Warburton.
COERCE v.
To compel or constrain to any action; as, to coerce a man to vote for a certain candidate.
COERCIVE a.
Serving or intended to coerce; having power to constrain. -- Co*er"cive*ly, adv. -- Co*er"cive*ness, n. Coercive power can only influence us to outward practice. Bp. Warburton. Coercive or Coercitive force (Magnetism), the power or force which in iron or steel produces a slowness or difficulty in imparting magnetism…
COGENT a.
Having the power to compel conviction or move the will; constraining; conclusive; forcible; powerful; not easily reasisted. No better nor more cogent reason. Dr. H. More. Proofs of the most cogent description. Tyndall. The tongue whose strains were cogent as commands, Revered at home, and felt in foreign lands. Cowper.…
COMPEL v.
To drive or urge with force, or irresistibly; to force; to constrain; to oblige; to necessitate, either by physical or moral force. Wolsey . . . compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once. Hallam. And they compel one Simon . . . to bear his cross. Mark xv. 21.
COMPELLABLE a.
Capable of being compelled or constrained. Blackstone.
COMPELLER n.
One who compels or constrains.
COMPULSATORY a.
Operating with force; compelling; forcing; constraininig; resulting from, or enforced by, compulsion. [R.] To recover of us, by strong hand And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands. Shak.
COMPULSION n.
e state of being compelled; the act of driving or urging by force or by physical or moral constraint; subjection to force. If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. Shak. With what complusion and laborious flight We sunk thus low. Milton.
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