restrain
To hold or keep a person or animal so they cannot move freely or do what they want.
To stop a person or animal from moving freely or doing something, especially by using physical force or tight control.
To stop yourself or another person from doing something you want to do or from showing strong feelings.
To prevent yourself or someone else from expressing an emotion or doing something you strongly feel like doing.
To make sure that something, like spending or prices, does not grow too fast or become too strong.
To keep something such as costs, prices, activity, or growth under control and stop it from increasing too much.
To stop someone from doing something by using the law or official power.
To officially prevent someone from doing something, especially through a court order or other legal power.
- Base: restrain
- 3rd Person Singular: restrains
- Present Participle: restraining
- Past: restrained
cannot restrain oneself
1be unable to control oneself
Used when someone tries, but fails, to stop themselves from doing or saying something.
- She cannot restrain herself from correcting other people’s grammar.
- He tried to stay calm but could not restrain himself and started shouting.
restrain yourself
1tell someone to control themselves
Used to tell someone, or yourself, not to do something you strongly want to do, usually because it is not sensible or polite.
- I know you want to shout, but please restrain yourself.
- He had to restrain himself from checking his phone during the interview.
restraining order
1legal order to keep someone away
A legal paper from a court that says a person must not contact or go near another person or place.
- She got a restraining order against her ex-husband.
- The judge issued a restraining order to protect the witnesses.