| Library / English Dictionary |
RESTRAINED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Prudent
Example:
guarded optimism
Synonyms:
guarded; restrained
Classified under:
Similar:
cautious (showing careful forethought)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Cool and formal in manner
Synonyms:
restrained; reticent; unemotional
Classified under:
Similar:
undemonstrative (not given to open expression of emotion)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not showy or obtrusive
Example:
clothes in quiet good taste
Synonyms:
quiet; restrained
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unostentatious; unpretending; unpretentious (not ostentatious)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Under restraint
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
close (strictly confined or guarded)
low-key; low-keyed; subdued (restrained in style or quality)
unexpansive (not given to high spirits or effusiveness)
Also:
controlled (restrained or managed or kept within certain bounds)
inhibited (held back or restrained or prevented)
reserved (marked by self-restraint and reticence)
Antonym:
unrestrained (not subject to restraint)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Marked by avoidance of extravagance or extremes
Example:
restrained in his response
Synonyms:
moderate; restrained
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
temperate (not extreme in behavior)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Past simple / past participle of the verb restrain
Context examples:
The explosion of disapproval, which nothing but Silver's black looks had restrained, broke out immediately the doctor had left the house.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Emma restrained her indignation, and only turned from her in silence.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
In Eleanor's presence friendship and pride had equally restrained her tears, but no sooner was she gone than they burst forth in torrents.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
She was invested, indeed, with the office of judge and critic, and earnestly desired to exercise it and tell them all their faults; but from doing so every feeling within her shrank—she could not, would not, dared not attempt it: had she been otherwise qualified for criticism, her conscience must have restrained her from venturing at disapprobation.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
But as no such delicacy restrained her mother, an hour seldom passed in which she did not talk of Bingley, express her impatience for his arrival, or even require Jane to confess that if he did not come back she would think herself very ill used.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Having with difficulty restrained an explosion of merriment, lest it should offend her majesty, Laurie tapped and was graciously received.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I felt sorely urged to weep; but conscious how unseasonable such a manifestation would be, I restrained it.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
When night came I quitted my retreat and wandered in the wood; and now, no longer restrained by the fear of discovery, I gave vent to my anguish in fearful howlings.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Jack Sheppard himself couldn't get free from the strait-waistcoat that keeps him restrained, and he's chained to the wall in the padded room.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
The complaints and lamentations which politeness had hitherto restrained, now burst forth universally; and they all agreed again and again how provoking it was to be so disappointed.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
