constraint
noun OPAL W
/kənˈstreɪnt/
/kənˈstreɪnt/
- constraints of time/money/space
- financial/economic/legal/political constraints
- constraint on something This decision will impose serious constraints on all schools.
Synonyms limitlimit- restriction
- control
- constraint
- restraint
- limitation
- limit the greatest or smallest amount of something that is allowed:
- The EU has set strict limits on pollution levels.
- the speed limit
- restriction (rather formal) a rule or law that limits what you can do:
- There are no restrictions on the amount of money you can withdraw.
- control (often in compounds) the act of limiting or managing something; a method of doing this:
- arms control
- constraint (rather formal) a fact or decision that limits what you can do:
- We have to work within severe constraints of time and money.
- restraint (rather formal) a decision, a rule, an idea, etc. that limits what you can do; the act of limiting something because it is necessary or sensible to do so:
- The government has imposed export restraints on some products.
- The unions are unlikely to accept any sort of wage restraint.
- limitation the act or process of limiting something; a rule, fact or condition that limits something:
- They would resist any limitation of their powers.
- limits/restrictions/controls/constraints/restraints/limitations on something
- limits/limitations to something
- severe limits/restrictions/controls/constraints/restraints/limitations
- tight limits/restrictions/controls/constraints
- to impose/remove limits/restrictions/controls/constraints/restraints/limitations
- to lift restrictions/controls/constraints/restraints
Extra Examples- The government has placed tight constraints on spending this year.
- There are major financial constraints on all schools.
- We have to work within severe constraints.
- We are severely limited by legal and political constraints.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- important
- major
- severe
- …
- impose
- place
- put
- …
- within a/the constraint
- without constraint
- constraint on
- …
- At last we could relax and talk without constraint.
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘coercion’): from Old French constreinte, feminine past participle of constraindre, from Latin constringere ‘bind tightly together’.