Both Uses of
constrained
in
Much Ado About Nothing
- I would your Grace would constrain me to tell.†
Scene 1.1 *constrain = restrict
- Father, by your leave: Will you with free and unconstrained soul Give me this maid, your daughter?†
Scene 4.1unconstrained = not restricted; or uninhibitedstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unconstrained means not and reverses the meaning of constrained. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
Definitions:
-
(1)
(constrained) restricted or inhibited
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely (and archaically), constrain can mean to force someone to do something.