straitjacket

variants also straightjacket
as in confinement
a jacket that has long arms which can be tied together behind someone's back and that is used to control the movement (as of a violent prisoner or patient) The magician struggled to free his arms from the straitjacket and escape from the tank of water he was submerged in.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of straitjacket Expect to see more issue-centric coalitions that defy recent partisan ideological straitjackets: Democratic represenatives favoring gun rights, say, or Republican governors favoring environmental regulation. R. Glenn Hubbard, Foreign Affairs, 11 June 2013 The text becomes a straitjacket for a princely son who doesn’t seem accustomed to Shakespearean rigors. Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2025 At San Clemente, a much bigger operation tasked the women with lace-making, laundering, cooking and sewing the straitjackets that were used at both institutions. Asia London Palomba, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 June 2025 So now, even the bankers are wriggling out of Carney’s globalist climate straitjacket. Rachel Marsden, Hartford Courant, 26 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for straitjacket
Recent Examples of Synonyms for straitjacket
Noun
  • Radford has been interviewed by Army investigators and is in pretrial confinement, Lubas said.
    Emily Shapiro, ABC News, 6 Aug. 2025
  • He was arrested following the shooting and is currently in pre-trial confinement.
    Greg Wehner , Liz Friden, FOXNews.com, 6 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Those items included a rose gold and diamond bracelet worth $15,000, a rose gold and diamond chain worth $50,000, a Rolex Presidential 40mm watch worth $45,000, a Rolex Datejust watch worth $23,000, and a gold and diamond tennis chain worth $30,000.
    Rick Sobey, Boston Herald, 13 Aug. 2025
  • The Coronado property is owned by a trust operated by the Call family, whose patriarch, Jay Call, was the founder of the Flying J. Fuel Co., a major chain of truck stops across North America.
    Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • One player who might not be a trap however is one of Pep Guardiola’s newest recruits: Tijjani Reijnders.
    Abdul Rehman, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2025
  • According to the almond board, other methods such as bait stations, snap traps and owl boxes – which draw the rodent predators – are also being employed, but farmers say the tactics are expensive and not entirely effective for a plague of this magnitude.
    Jorge L. Ortiz, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Wednesday comes face-to-face with Tyler, who is chained to the wall by the wrists and has an electric-shock collar on his neck.
    Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 6 Aug. 2025
  • The button-down shirt Pop the collar, roll up the sleeves, wear it loose or completely buttoned-up—a relaxed button-down shirt is an easygoing layer that adds instant polish to jeans and full skirts.
    Jake Henry Smith, Glamour, 5 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Straitjacket.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/straitjacket. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.

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