Definition

1. Verb (transitive):
   • To make narrow or confined: To restrict in space or scope; to limit.
   • To cause distress or difficulty, especially financial hardship: To bring into a condition of poverty or severe constraint.

Usage and Examples

• Verb:
  • The new regulations will straiten the company's operational freedom. (The rules will limit the company's scope of action.)
  • The loss of his job straitened the family considerably. (It caused the family significant financial hardship.)

Advanced Usage

• "to be straitened": To be in a condition of hardship or constraint.
  • They were greatly straitened by the economic downturn. (They were severely affected by the poor economy.)
• "straitened circumstances": A fixed phrase describing a state of poverty or financial difficulty.
  • After the business failed, they lived in straitened circumstances for years. (They lived in poverty for years.)

Variants and Related Words

• Strait (noun): A narrow passage of water connecting two seas; (often plural, ) a situation of difficulty or distress.
  • The company was in dire financial straits. (The company was in serious financial difficulty.)
• Straitened (adjective): Characterized by hardship, especially financial.
  • Their straitened lifestyle was a result of the recession. (Their difficult lifestyle was caused by the recession.)

Synonyms

• Constrict: To make narrower or tighter.
• Impoverish: To make poor.
• Distress: To cause anxiety, sorrow, or pain.

Antonyms

• Enrich: To make wealthy or improve.
• Widen: To make broader.
• Expand: To increase in scope or size.

Notes

The word straiten is formal and less common in everyday modern English. The adjective straitened (as in straitened circumstances) and the plural noun straits (as in in dire straits) are more frequently encountered. It is unrelated to the more common word straighten.

Verb

1. squeeze together
2. bring into difficulties or distress, especially financial hardship