Question

constrain和restrain在用法上有什么区别？

Answer 1

restrain 指情感"抑制",还可指阻止某人做某事:如
restrain one's anger /laughter /tears  
抑制便衣愤怒,笑声,眼泪.(restrain sb/sth (from sth / doing sth ) the little girl had diffculty in restraining herself from laughter.)

constrain
1.强逼：通过身体的、道德的或环境的力量强迫；迫使
2.限制：把…限制在窄小的范围内；约束(a life that had been constrained by habit to the same few activities and friends.
习惯于被束缚在一成不变的几个活动和朋友中的生活)
3.抑制：抑制或压制；克制：
“Failing to control the growth of international debt will also constrain living standards”(Ronald Brownstein)
“若不能控制外债的增长还将会影响到生活水平”(罗纳德·布朗斯坦)

constrain                                             [kən'strein]                            

• vt.

• 强迫，迫使，强制；使(关系等)紧张：

  Hunger constrained  him to eat.

  饥饿迫使他进食。

• 监禁,关押;The criminal was constrained  at once. 罪犯立即被关押起来。

• 压制，抑制，遏制；约束：

  Cold weather constrained the plant's growth.

  寒冷的天气抑制了植物的生长。

• We should only constrain the liberty of others if what they do causes harm.                      

  我们只能在别人的所作所为对自己造成伤害时限制其自由。

  article.yeeyan.org                                            

• Whether one favors or opposes these restrictions on drilling, they do constrain the supply of oil and do, therefore, cause the price of oil to be higher than otherwise.                      

  不管是支持还是反对限制开采，他们限制了石油的供应，因此将使石油价格比另一种方式要更高。

  article.yeeyan.org                                            

• If you wish to constrain an application to run only on a particular subset of nodes, define a Node Group that includes just that set of nodes.                      

  如果希望限制一个应用程序，使其仅运行在一个特定节点子集中，则可以定义一个仅包括该节点集的节点组。

restrain                                             [ri'strein]                            

• vt.

• 抑制，遏制；克制；控制:

  She was so angry that she could hardly restrain herself.

  她气得几乎控制不了自己。

  I restrained tears with difficulty.

  我好不容易才忍住了眼泪。

• 约束；限制 ；阻止(常与of，from 连用)：

  We must not restrain children of their liberty.

  我们绝对不要限制孩子们的自由。

  He was going to fight with the stranger but his mother restrained him.

  他要同陌生人打起来，但被他的母亲所阻止。

• 监禁；拘留，扣押:

  The murderer has been restrained.

  凶手已被押起来。