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Webster 1913 Edition

Constraint

Con-straint′

,
Noun.
[OF.
constrainte
, F.
constrainte
.]
The act of constraining, or the state of being constrained; that which compels to, or restrains from, action; compulsion; restraint; necessity.
Long imprisonment and hard
constraint
.
Spenser.
Syn. – Compulsion; violence; necessity; urgency.
–
Constraint
,
Compulsion
. Constraint implies strong binding force; as, the constraint of necessity; the constraint of fear. Compulsion implies the exertion of some urgent impelling force; as, driven by compulsion. The former prevents us from acting agreeably to our wishes; the latter forces us to act contrary to our will. Compulsion is always produced by some active agent; a constraint may be laid upon us by the forms of civil society, or by other outward circumstances.
Crabb.

Webster 1828 Edition

Constraint

CONSTRAINT

,
Noun.
Irresistible force, or its effect; any force, or power, physical or moral, which compels to act or to forbear action, or which urges so strongly as to produce its effect upon the body or mind; compulsion; restraint; confinement.
Not by constraint, but by my choice, I came.
Feed the flock of God, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly. 1 Peter 5.

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