verb (used with object)
- to draw or press in; cause to contract or shrink; compress.
- to slow or stop the natural course or development of: Greed and aggressiveness constricted the nation’s cultural life.
verb (tr)
- to make smaller or narrower, esp by contracting at one place
- to hold in or inhibit; limit
v.early 15c., from Latin constrictus, past participle of constringere “compress” (see constrain). A direct borrowing from Latin of the same word which, via French, became constrain. Related: Constricted; constricting. v.
- To make smaller or narrower, especially by binding or squeezing.