restriction

[ri-strik-shuh n] /rɪˈstrɪk ʃən/

noun

something that restricts; a restrictive condition or regulation; limitation.

the state of being restricted.

Origin

1375-1425; late Middle English < Late Latin restrictiōn- (stem of restrictiō), equivalent to Latin restrict(us) (see restrict) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms

nonrestriction, noun

overrestriction, noun

prerestriction, noun

prorestriction, adjective

self-restriction, noun

superrestriction, noun

Synonyms

1. rule, provision, reservation, restraint.

Examples from the web for restriction

Corporations were free to ignore the restriction if they were prepared to accept the tax consequences.
Tobacco companies are routinely threatened with every tax and sales restriction going, and are perennial fixtures on the list.
Here, the biggest restriction is going to be your budget.
But the idea of any further restriction on the strikes is laughable.
Such a restriction would not only be capricious, but also eminently unfair.
Bacteria do not make restriction enzymes out of the goodness of their hearts, nor to help catch criminals, of course.
The only restriction was an inability to self-nominate.
The only restriction is that applications must be built with standard web technologies.
Sleep restriction limits your time in bed, therefore increasing your body's drive to sleep.
But in the eyes of some students, such a restriction contradicts the entire point of the site.

British Dictionary definitions for restriction

restriction

/rɪˈstrɪkʃən/

noun

something that restricts; a restrictive measure, law, etc

the act of restricting or the state of being restricted

(logic, maths) a condition that imposes a constraint on the possible values of a variable or on the domain of arguments of a function

Derived Forms

restrictionist, noun, adjective

Word Origin and History for restriction

early 15c., "that which restricts," from Middle French restriction (14c.) and directly from Late Latin restrictionem (nominative restrictio) "limitation," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin restringere "restrict, bind fast, restrain," from re- "back" (see re-) + stringere "draw tight" (see strain (v.)). Meaning "act of restricting" is from 1620s.

restriction in Technology

A bug or design error that limits a program's capabilities, and which is sufficiently egregious that nobody can quite work up enough nerve to describe it as a feature. Often used (especially by marketroid types) to make it sound as though some crippling bogosity had been intended by the designers all along, or was forced upon them by arcane technical constraints of a nature no mere user could possibly comprehend (these claims are almost invariably false).
Old-time hacker Joseph M. Newcomer advises that whenever choosing a quantifiable but arbitrary restriction, you should make it either a power of 2 or a power of 2 minus 1. If you impose a limit of 17 items in a list, everyone will know it is a random number - on the other hand, a limit of 15 or 16 suggests some deep reason (involving 0- or 1-based indexing in binary) and you will get less flamage for it. Limits which are round numbers in base 10 are always especially suspect.
[Jargon File]