# restriction

Pronunciation: US say "ri-STRIK-shuhn" /ɹɪˈstɹɪkʃən/; UK

## Noun

1. A regulation or limit that controls or reduces what someone is allowed to do.
   - Simple: A rule or limit that controls what you are allowed to do.
   - _The city imposed a restriction on water use during the drought._
   - _Travel restrictions kept many families apart for months._
2. The act of limiting or confining something, or the condition of being limited.
   - Simple: The act of limiting something, or the state of being limited.
   - _Wartime brought severe restriction of imported goods._
   - _He resented the constant restriction of his daily choices._
3. The cellular mechanism by which a cell breaks down foreign DNA entering it, such as DNA from an invading virus.
   - Simple: The way a cell breaks down DNA that does not belong to it.
   - _Bacterial restriction cleaves invading viral DNA before it can replicate._
   - _Through restriction, the cell identifies and degrades DNA that is not its own._

## Origin

This word came into Middle English as "restriccioun" from Anglo-Norman and Middle French "restriction", which came from Late Latin "restrictiō", derived from Latin "restringō". It can also be analyzed as "restrict" plus the suffix "-ion".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/restriction (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).