restriction

/riˈstrɪkʃɪn/

/rəˈstrɪkʃən/

Other forms: restrictions

A restriction is a limitation or a restraint, like when a size restriction keeps you from jumping on a toddler trampoline and bouncing the smaller kids a mile up in the air.

Usually a restriction is in place because a limit needs to be set. Common sense would keep you from putting a bowling ball in a paper bag; you wouldn’t need a restriction to tell you not to do it. Sometimes a restriction is the result of doing something bad or misusing a privilege, as when your parents put a restriction on video gaming to limit your time in front of the TV.

Definitions of restriction

1. noun

   an act of limiting or restricting (as by regulation)
   synonyms: limitation

   types:

   load-shedding

   cutting off the electric current on certain lines when the demand becomes greater than the supply

   arms control

   a limitation on the size and armament of the armed forces of a country

   hold-down

   a limitation or constraint

   freeze

   fixing (of prices or wages etc) at a particular level

   clampdown

   sudden restriction on an activity

   hiring freeze

   a freeze on hiring

   price freeze

   a freeze of prices at a given level

   wage freeze

   a freeze of wages at a given level

   type of:

   regulating, regulation

   the act of controlling or directing according to rule
2. noun

   the act of keeping something within specified bounds (by force if necessary)
   “the restriction of the infection to a focal area”

   synonyms: confinement

   types:

   classification

   restriction imposed by the government on documents or weapons that are available only to certain authorized people

   specification, stipulation

   a restriction that is insisted upon as a condition for an agreement

   circumscription

   the act of circumscribing

   constraint

   the act of constraining; the threat or use of force to control the thoughts or behavior of others

   swaddling clothes

   restrictions placed on the immature

   type of:

   restraint

   the act of controlling by restraining someone or something
3. noun

   a principle that limits the extent of something
   “I am willing to accept certain restrictions on my movements”

   synonyms: limitation, stricture

   types:

   narrowness

   a restriction of range or scope

   quantification

   a limitation imposed on the variables of a proposition (as by the quantifiers `some' or `all' or `no')

   restraint

   a rule or condition that limits freedom

   floodgate

   something that restrains a flood or outpouring

   type of:

   regulation, rule

   a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior