The DICT Development Group

  Constraint \Con*straint"\, n. [OF. constrainte, F. constrainte.]
     The act of constraining, or the state of being constrained;
     that which compels to, or restrains from, action; compulsion;
     restraint; necessity.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Long imprisonment and hard constraint.   --Spenser.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Not by constraint, but by my choice, I came. --Dryden.
  
     Syn: Compulsion; violence; necessity; urgency.
  
     Usage: Constraint, Compulsion. Constraint implies strong
            binding force; as, the constraint of necessity; the
            constraint of fear. Compulsion implies the exertion of
            some urgent impelling force; as, driven by compulsion.
            The former prevents us from acting agreeably to our
            wishes; the latter forces us to act contrary to our
            will. Compulsion is always produced by some active
            agent; a constraint may be laid upon us by the forms
            of civil society, or by other outward circumstances.
            --Crabb.
            [1913 Webster]

  constraint
      n 1: the state of being physically constrained; "dogs should be
           kept under restraint" [syn: constraint, restraint]
      2: a device that retards something's motion; "the car did not
         have proper restraints fitted" [syn: restraint,
         constraint]
      3: the act of constraining; the threat or use of force to
         control the thoughts or behavior of others

  169 Moby Thesaurus words for "constraint":
     abnegation, abstinence, aloofness, aplomb, arrest, arrestation,
     backwardness, bashfulness, blankness, caging, calm, calmness,
     check, chilliness, circumscription, coaction, coercion, coldness,
     composure, compulsion, compulsiveness, confinement, conservatism,
     continence, control, cool, cooling, cooling down, cooling off,
     coolness, cramp, curb, curtailment, deceleration, denial,
     detachment, discipline, discreetness, discretion, dispassion,
     distance, drive, driving, duress, enforcement, evenness, exigency,
     expressionlessness, forbearance, forcing, frigidity, frostiness,
     frugality, gentleness, goad, golden mean, guardedness,
     happy medium, hindrance, iciness, impartiality, impassiveness,
     impassivity, impelling, impersonality, impoundment, impulse,
     impulsion, inaccessibility, independence, inevitability,
     inhibition, injunction, interdict, introversion, irresistibility,
     judiciousness, juste-milieu, legal restraint, lenity, lockup,
     meden agan, middle way, mildness, moderateness, moderation,
     moderationism, modesty, monopoly, motive, necessity, neutrality,
     nonviolence, nothing in excess, obligation, obligement, pacifism,
     penning, pinch, possession, press, pressure, prohibition,
     protection, protectionism, protective tariff, prudence, push,
     rash impulse, rationing, rein, remoteness, renouncement,
     renunciation, repose, repression, reserve, reservedness, restraint,
     restraint of trade, restriction, retardation, reticence, reticency,
     retirement, retiring disposition, retrenchment, self-abnegation,
     self-command, self-conquest, self-control, self-denial,
     self-discipline, self-government, self-mastery, self-possession,
     self-restraint, serenity, slowing down, soberness, sobriety,
     sophrosyne, spring, spur, stability, standoffishness, steadiness,
     stress, subduedness, suppression, tariff wall, temperance,
     temperateness, thought control, tranquillity, unaffability,
     unapproachability, uncongeniality, undemonstrativeness,
     unexcessiveness, unexpansiveness, unextravagance, unextremeness,
     urge, urgency, via media, violence, withdrawal, withdrawnness
  
  

  constraint
  
      A Boolean relation, often an
     equality or ineqality relation, between the values of one or
     more mathematical variables.  E.g. x>3 is a constraint on x.
     The process of constraint satisfaction attempts to assign values
     to variables so that all constraints are true.
  
     Usenet newsgroup: news:comp.constraints.  FAQ
     http://cs.unh.edu/ccc/archive/)">(http://cs.unh.edu/ccc/archive/).
  
     (2002-06-08)
  

  CONSTRAINT. In the civil and Scottish law, by this term is understood what, 
  in the common law, is known by the name of duress. 
       2. It is a general rule, that when one is compelled into a contract, 
  there is no effectual consent, though, ostensibly, there is the form of it. 
  In such case the contract will be declared void. 
       3. The constraint requisite thus to annul a contract, must be a vis aut 
  me us qui cadet in constantem virum, such as would shake a man of firmness 
  and resolution. 3 Ersk. 1, Sec. 16; and 4, 1, Sec. 26; 1 Bell's Conn. B. 3, 
  part 1, o. 1, s. 1, art. 1, page 295.