restrict

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin restrictus, perfect passive participle of restringō (“draw back tightly; restrain, restrict”), from re- (“back, again”) + stringō (“press, tighten, compress”). Doublet of ristretto as an adjective.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈstɹɪkt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkt

Verb

restrict (third-person singular simple present restricts, present participle restricting, simple past and past participle restricted)

1. To restrain within boundaries; to limit; to confine

   After suffering diahrroea, the patient was restricted to a diet of rice, cold meat, and yoghurt.

   • 2011 September 28, Jon Smith, “Valencia 1 - 1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport‎:

     It was no less than Valencia deserved after dominating possession in the final 20 minutes although Chelsea defended resolutely and restricted the Spanish side to shooting from long range.

2. (specifically, mathematics) To consider (a function) as defined on a subset of its original domain.

   If we restrict sine to ${\displaystyle \left}$, we can define its inverse.

Synonyms

• (to restrain within bounds): limit, bound, circumscribe, withstrain, restrain, repress, curb, coerce, quarantine (fig.)

Related terms

• restriction
• restraint
• restrain

Translations

Adjective

restrict (comparative more restrict, superlative most restrict)

1. (obsolete) Restricted.

Anagrams

• critters, stricter