1. An act or the quality of holding back, limiting, or controlling something: "Although severely agitated, she showed admirable restraint in not retaliating."
2. Something that controls or limits someone or something: "The country tried to impose trade restraints."
3. Something that is fastened to limit someone's freedom of movement.
4. A loss or abridgment of freedom.
5. An influence that inhibits or restrains; a limitation.
6. Control or repression of feelings; a constraint.