restrain, check, curb, bridle mean to hold back from or control in doing something. restrain suggests holding back by force or persuasion from acting or from going to extremes.

RESTRAIN definition: 1. to control the actions or behaviour of someone by force, especially in order to stop them from…. Learn more.

Restrain definition: to hold back from action; keep in check or under control; repress.. See examples of RESTRAIN used in a sentence.

Restrain implies restriction or limitation, as on one's freedom of action: "a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another" (Thomas Jefferson).

Definition of restrain verb in Oxford Advanced American Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

re•strain (ri strān′), v.t. to hold back from action; keep in check or under control; repress: to restrain one's temper. to deprive of liberty, as by arrest or the like. to limit or hamper the activity, growth, or effect …

If you restrain an emotion or you restrain yourself from doing something, you prevent yourself from showing that emotion or doing what you wanted or intended to do.

Restrain can also mean to restrict or hold back someone else, to prevent someone from doing what they're intending to do. Prison guards have to restrain a prisoner who is trying to attack one of his …

There are 20 meanings listed in OED's entry for the verb restrain, four of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

restrain verb [T] (LIMIT) to limit something: to restrain arms sales (Definition of restrain from the Cambridge Learner's Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)