Definition of "constrain" []

• To compel by physical, moral, or circumstantial force; oblige: felt constrained to object. See Synonyms at force. (verb-transitive)
• To keep within close bounds; confine: a life that had been constrained by habit to the same few activities and friends. (verb-transitive)
• To inhibit or restrain; hold back: "Failing to control the growth of international debt will also constrain living standards” ( Ronald Brownstein). (verb-transitive)
• To produce in a forced or inhibited manner. (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.

• "Even with the targeted procurement it is not enough to develop and empower women owned businesses, another constrain is the supply side."
• "The Obama administration's new nuclear arms reduction agreement with Russia has been beset by a chorus of conservative claims that it will "constrain" U.S. efforts to develop missile defenses, in the words of Charles Krauthammer, among many others."
• "The Association must so present its work to the churches as to "constrain" them to give; drag them by the chains of Christian duty to give; those who can of their abundance abundantly; those who must of their penury, with this tremendous self-sacrifice."