constrict

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnstrictus, the past participle of cōnstringō (“to bind together, compress”),^[2][3][4][5] from con- and stringō (“to bind, draw tight”).^[6][7] Barnhart and Etymonline allow that it may instead be a back-formation from the older constriction.^[3][2] The same Latin verb gave constrain through French and constringe directly.^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make living tissue contract or draw together: 1732, in Arbuthnot's Practical Rules of Diet.^[7] Johnson's quotation from the same author speaks of things that "constrict the fibres".^[8] Before the verb, Middle English had a participle constrict (“drawn tight”), in a surgical text of about 1425.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term for the action on the body, and in 1759 it is recorded for drawing something together as a string would, or narrowing a tube or opening.^[7][2] The Shorter Oxford notes that this sense is both literal and figurative,^[10] and Merriam-Webster and Collins both record the extended sense of inhibiting or cramping someone or something.^[4][5] Etymonline notes that constringe had carried the same sense since about 1600.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – Middle English participle constrict, drawn tight.^[9]
• 1732 – to cause organic tissue to contract.^[7][2][4]
• 1759 – to draw together, to make a tube or opening narrow.^[7][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make something narrower or tighter, especially by contracting or squeezing it at one point: Cold air can constrict the airways.^[5][4][7]
2. To inhibit or limit; to cramp: A tight budget constricted the team's plans.^[5][4][10]

Word family

• constrictive
• constrictively
• nonconstricting

Related words

• constriction
• constraint
• restrict
• strict
• constrictor
• constringe
• stringent
• astrict

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press