CONSTRAINED

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does constrained mean? 

• CONSTRAINED (adjective)
  The adjective CONSTRAINED has 1 sense:

1. lacking spontaneity; not natural

  Familiarity information: CONSTRAINED used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONSTRAINED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lacking spontaneity; not natural

Synonyms:

constrained; forced; strained

Context example:

a strained smile

Similar:

affected; unnatural (speaking or behaving in an artificial way to make an impression)

 Context examples 

For the world would she not have her weakness suspected, and yet, unequal to an absolute falsehood, was constrained to acknowledge that the wind had kept her awake a little.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

“Won't you?” said he, constrained by the pain of his cheek to put his hand there.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

To-night, when we met, she was somewhat constrained, and bore all the signs of an internal struggle.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The “How d'ye do's” were quiet and constrained on each side.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Unlike Jupiter’s GRS, the Neptune spot is not as tightly constrained by numerous alternating wind jets (seen as bands in Jupiter’s atmosphere).

(Hubble Sees Neptune's Mysterious Shrinking Storm, NASA)

Days supply is not allowed as a prescribed quantity for eRx. (Dispensed quantity from claims likely constrained to these values).

(NCPDP Quantity Unit of Measure Terminology, NCI Thesaurus)

The extent to which it can generate income may be constrained, or the use of those profits may be restricted.

(Nonprofit Organization, NCI Thesaurus)

He told me “yes” by a constrained gesture; and when I had bidden him enter, he did not obey me without a searching backward glance into the darkness of the square.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A data type comprised of numbers with no fractional part that are constrained to positive numbers as well as zero.

(Non-Negative Integer Data Type, NCI Thesaurus)

She was tranquil, yet her tranquillity was evidently constrained; and as her confusion had before been adduced as a proof of her guilt, she worked up her mind to an appearance of courage.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)