{
    "term": "constraint",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "academic": true,
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "a thing that limits something, or limits your freedom to do something",
            "sensetop": "constraint on something",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "**constraints of time/money/space**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "**financial/economic/legal/political constraints**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "This decision will impose serious constraints on all schools.",
                    "contextForm": "constraint on something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The government has placed tight constraints on spending this year."
                },
                {
                    "text": "There are major financial constraints on all schools."
                },
                {
                    "text": "We have to work within severe constraints."
                },
                {
                    "text": "We are severely limited by legal and political constraints."
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "restriction",
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["important", "major", "severe"],
                "verb + constraint": ["impose", "place", "put"],
                "preposition": [
                    "within a/​the constraint",
                    "without constraint",
                    "constraint on"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "strict control over the way that you behave or are allowed to behave",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "At last we could relax and talk without constraint."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/kənˈstreɪnt/",
                "audio": "xc/constraint/xconstraint__gb_2.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/kənˈstreɪnt/",
                "audio": "xc/constraint/xconstraint__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late Middle English (in the sense ‘coercion’): from Old French constreinte, feminine past participle of constraindre, from Latin constringere ‘bind tightly together’."
}