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Definition of "straitjacket" []

  • A long-sleeved jacketlike garment used to bind the arms tightly against the body as a means of restraining a violent patient or prisoner. (noun)
  • Something that restricts, hinders, or confines: the straitjacket of bureaucratic paperwork. (noun)
  • To restrain, restrict, or hinder by or as if by confining in a straitjacket. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "straitjacket" in a sentence
  • "He would come into a big city and hang himself upside down in a straitjacket from a skyscraper - but not just any building, usually the one that housed the major newspaper."
  • "Too often, I fear, the straitjacket is what ends up coming across from the opera stage."
  • "I mean, it's the best kind of long-term straitjacket."
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