Definition

1. Noun:
   • The action or process of making something narrower or tighter by squeezing or pressing it: A physical narrowing or compression.
   • A feeling of tightness or pressure in a part of the body: A sensation, often due to emotion or illness, that a part of the body is being squeezed.
   • A place where something is narrow or constricted: A physical narrowing in an object or passage.

Usage and Examples

• Referring to a physical action or state:
  • The constriction of the blood vessel reduced blood flow.
  • The snake kills its prey by constriction.
• Referring to a bodily sensation:
  • Anxiety can cause a constriction in the chest.
  • He spoke with difficulty due to the constriction in his throat.
• Referring to a narrow part:
  • The constriction in the pipe caused a drop in water pressure.

Advanced Usage

• In a figurative sense: Can describe a limiting or restricting influence on non-physical things.
  • The constriction of civil liberties was widely protested.
  • He worked under the constriction of a very tight deadline.

Variants and Related Words

• Constrict (verb): To make narrower or tighter by squeezing.
  • Cold temperatures can constrict blood vessels.
• Constrictive (adjective): Serving to constrict.
  • The bandage was too constrictive.
• Constrictor (noun): Something that constricts, especially a type of snake.
  • A boa constrictor kills by squeezing its prey.

Synonyms

• Compression: The action of pressing something into a smaller space.
• Tightness: The quality or state of being fixed firmly in place, leaving little room.
• Narrowing: The process of becoming less wide.
• Stricture: A restriction, or a narrowing of a duct or passage in the body.

Antonyms

• Expansion: The action of becoming larger or more extensive.
• Dilation: The action of becoming wider, larger, or more open.
• Enlargement: The act of making something bigger.

Related Phrases and Idioms

• A lump in one's throat: An idiom for a tight feeling in the throat caused by strong emotion, similar to "a constriction in the throat."
  • The sad story gave her a lump in her throat.

Noun

1. the action or process of compressing
2. a tight feeling in some part of the body
   • he felt a constriction in her chest
   • she felt an alarming tightness in her chest
   • emotion caused a constriction of his throat
3. tight or narrow compression
4. a narrowing that reduces the flow through a channel