"constraining" in the verb sense
1. enforce, impose, constrain
compel to behave in a certain way
"Social relations impose courtesy"
"duty constrains one to act often contrary to one's desires or inclinations"
2. restrain, confine, hold, constrain
to close within bounds, or otherwise limit or deprive of free movement
"This holds the local until the express passengers change trains"
"About a dozen animals were held inside the stockade"
"The illegal immigrants were held at a detention center"
"The terrorists held the journalists for ransom"
3. stiffen, tighten, tighten up, constrain
severely restrict in scope or extent
"tighten the rules"
"stiffen the regulations"
"constraining" in the adjective sense
1. confining, constraining, constrictive, limiting, restricting
restricting the scope or freedom of action
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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