What does "restraining" mean?

The act by which someone or something is restrained.

What is a synonym for "restraining"?

Common synonyms include: compelling, compulsive, compulsory, driving, imperative, imperious.

noun, verb

noun, verb ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The act by which someone or something is restrained.
"She had the privilege of a soul beyond our minor rules and restrainings to speak her wishes to the true wife of a mock husband—no husband; less a husband than this shadow of a woman a wife, she said; […]"

Verb

1
present participle and gerund of restrain form-of, gerund, participle, present

"The restraining role that the community once played is losing its force as adults become reluctant to reprimand other people's unruly children."

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.