How to Use restraint in a Sentence

restraint

noun
  • Make sure the child safety restraint is in place.
  • The prisoner was placed in restraints.
  • His angry response showed a lack of restraint.
  • The government has acted with restraint in dealing with this crisis.
  • What stands out to me is the restraint.
    — Sara Payan, Rolling Stone, 27 May 2026
  • That restraint was hard for me.
    — Clarissa Cruz, Entertainment Weekly, 16 June 2026
  • That kind of restraint is rare—and smart.
    — Sophia A. Nelson, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
  • So, there’s a lot of restraint.
    — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 17 June 2026
  • That restraint held for decades.
    — John Eger, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Sep. 2025
  • Scent, too, is used with restraint.
    — Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
  • Jails have restraint chairs and spit hoods but no padded cells.
    — Erin Glynn, The Enquirer, 2 June 2024
  • Yet what stands out most about Leyes is his restraint.
    — Wyles Daniel, Miami Herald, 31 Dec. 2025
  • Yet what stands out most about Leyes is his restraint.
    — Wyles Daniel, Miami Herald, 14 Jan. 2026
  • But the greater burden of restraint rests with the state.
    — Eric Balliet, Denver Post, 28 Jan. 2026
  • The members of this group were skilled in the arts of self-restraint.
    — Wallace Shawn, The New Republic, 29 June 2021
  • Reyes was placed in plastic hand restraints, but slipped out of them.
    — Sara Tenenbaum, CBS News, 3 June 2026
  • Well, a modicum of restraint, for one.
    — Jon Greenberg, New York Times, 22 May 2026
  • Warmth matters here, and so does restraint.
    — Miami Herald, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Three deputies stood by while one employed the neck restraint, the suit said.
    — Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Nov. 2021
  • All restraint flies out the window.
    — Symiah Dorsey, Southern Living, 23 Aug. 2025
  • Many have urged restraint from judgment.
    — Sacbee.com, 9 Mar. 2026
  • And those were the restraints that were built into the system.
    — David Frum, The Atlantic, 28 Jan. 2026
  • In some cases, Ukraine has shown even greater restraint.
    — Vikram Mittal, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026
  • In a culture that rewards fast takes, that kind of restraint is rare.
    — Sonia Singh, Rolling Stone, 2 Apr. 2026
  • Both the stoop and the pull-out depend on equal parts power and restraint.
    — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 24 May 2026
  • Those agents have shown a lot more restraint than legally required.
    — Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 6 Feb. 2026
  • This kind of restraint and patience is the key to moving faster in the long term.
    — Brad Stulberg, Outside Online, 28 Dec. 2021
  • But most of today’s justices no longer feel bound by that rule of restraint.
    — David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2023
  • Inside the guest rooms and suites, that restraint becomes a kind of refuge.
    — Lydia Mansel, Southern Living, 6 May 2026
  • Ryan agreed to bring restraints, rope and a knife to the Banfields’ home.
    — Tim Stelloh, NBC news, 3 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'restraint.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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