verb · academic
constrain
/kənˈstreɪn/con·STRAIN
Band 6-7task2speaking
to limit someone's freedom to do something or to restrict the development of something
Examples
“Budget limits constrained the scope of the project.”
“Social norms can constrain individual behaviour.”
“Researchers were constrained by the small sample size.”
Band 8 sentence
“Although technological advances promise improved productivity, regulatory frameworks can often constrain innovation in practice.”
Collocations
- be constrained by
- impose constraints
Word family
constraint nounconstrained adjective
Common mistakes
limit→constrain
restricting→constraining
Say it for a higher band
5limit→6restrict→7+constrain
Synonyms
limit
restrict
Easily confused
restrict
“School rules restrict students from leaving the campus during lunch.”
Related words
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In Sublist 7
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