restraint

plural restraints

1. countableSomething that restrains, ties, fastens or secures.

   Make sure all the restraints are tight.

   1 more example

   At the centre of Stalin’s superiority over his competitors was certainly his intense will, just as Napoleon ranked what he called ‘moral fortitude’ higher in a general than genius or experience. When Milovan Djilas said to Stalin during the Yugoslav-Soviet discussions in Moscow during the war that the Serbian politician Gavrilović was ‘a shrewd man’, Stalin commented, as though to himself: ‘Yes, there are politicians who think shrewdness is the main thing in politics. . . .’⁴⁴ His was a will-power taken to a logical extreme. There is something non-human about his almost total lack of normal restraints upon it.

   1968, Robert Conquest, “The Purge Begins”, in The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties, Macmillan Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 75

   Synonyms: fetter

2. uncountableControl or caution; reserve.

   Try to exercise restraint when talking to your boss.

   1 more example

   City will feel nonplussed when they review the tape and Pellegrini had to summon all his restraint in the post-match interviews.

   November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, “Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United”, in guardian.co.uk

   Synonyms: withstraint