stricture
noun/ˈstrɪktʃə(r)/
/ˈstrɪktʃər/
(formal)- [usually plural] stricture (on somebody/something) a severe criticism, especially of somebody’s behaviour
- She merely ignored any strictures on the way she dressed.
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
- stricture (against/on something) a rule or situation that limits your behaviour synonym restriction
- strictures against civil servants expressing political opinions
Word Originlate Middle English (in the medical sense; abnormal narrowing of a canal or duct in the body): from Latin strictura, from stringere ‘draw tight’. Another sense of the Latin verb, ‘touch lightly’, gave rise to sense (1) via an earlier meaning ‘incidental remark’.
Check pronunciation:
stricture