3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Constraint  \Con*straint"\,  n.  [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. 
 
  Not  by  constraint,  but  by  my  choice,  I  came  --Dryden. 
 
  Syn:  Compulsion;  violence;  necessity;  urgency. 
 
  Usage:  {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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  constraint 
  n  1:  the  state  of  being  constrained  [syn:  {restraint}] 
  2:  a  device  that  holds  someone  or  something  back  from  action 
  [syn:  {restraint}] 
  3:  the  act  of  constraining 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  constraint 
 
    A  {Boolean}  relation,  often  an 
  equality  or  {ineqality}  relation,  between  the  values  of  one  or 
  more  variables  (often  two).  E.g.  x>3  is  a  constraint  on  x. 
  {constraint  satisfaction}  is  the  process  of  assigning  values 
  to  variables  so  that  all  constraints  are  true. 
 
  {Usenet}  newsgroup:  {news:comp.constraints}.  {FAQ 
  (http://web.cs.city.ac.uk/archive/constraints/constraints.html)}. 
 
  (1997-02-20) 
 
 

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