prior restraint

noun

: governmental prohibition imposed on expression before the expression actually takes place

Examples of prior restraint in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the Court’s view, such prior restraint was acceptable because motion pictures were not organs of public opinion like newspapers but instead a business, pure and simple, and one with a capacity for evil. —Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Apr. 2026

So Section 326 of the Communications Act prohibits prior restraint and censorship, and the First Amendment guarantees free speech. —Josef Adalian, Vulture, 28 Apr. 2026

The company will seek to remove the court order as soon as possible, Babcock said, calling it a presumptively unconstitutional prior restraint. —Michael R. Sisak, Fortune, 23 Jan. 2026

In the meantime, the family sued the city, arguing that the charges constituted prior restraint on speech, viewpoint discrimination, selective enforcement and excessive force, in violation of the Constitution. —Angela Palermo, Idaho Statesman, 15 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1833, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for prior restraint

• acquaint
• complaint
• constraint
• distraint
• enceinte
• repaint
• faint
• feint
• maint
• paint
• plaint
• quaint

Legal Definition

prior restraint

noun

: governmental prohibition on expression (especially by publication) before the expression actually takes place see also Near v. Minnesota and New York Times Co. v. United States compare censorship, freedom of speech

Note: In New York Times Co. v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court restated its position that “any system of prior restraints” bears “a heavy presumption against constitutional validity” and that the government “carries a heavy burden of showing justification for the imposition of such a restraint.”