Restrict (someone or something) so as to make free movement difficult.

synonyms: cumber, restrain.

Roget 704: be difficult etc. adj.; run one hard, go against the grain, try one's patience, put one out; put to one's shifts, put to one's wit's end; go hard with one, try one; pose, perplex etc. (uncertain) 475; bother, nonplus, gravel, bring to a deadlock; be impossible etc. 471; be in the way of etc. (hinder) 706.    meet with difficulties; labor under difficulties; get into difficulties; plunge into difficulties; struggle with difficulties; contend with difficulties; grapple with difficulties; labor under a disadvantage; be in difficulty etc. adj.. fish in troubled waters, buffet the waves, swim against the stream, scud under bare poles.    Have much ado with, have a hard time of it; come to the push, come to the pinch; bear the brunt.    grope in the dark, lose one's way, weave a tangled web, walk among eggs.    get into a scrape etc. n.; bring a hornet's nest about one's ears; be put to one's shifts; flounder, boggle, struggle; not know which way to turn etc. (uncertain) 475; perdre son Latin [Fr.]; stick at, stick in the mud, stick fast; come to a stand, come to a standstill, come to a deadlock; hold the wolf by the ears, hold the tiger by the tail.    render difficult etc. adj.; enmesh, encumber, embarrass, ravel, entangle; put a spoke in the wheel etc. (hinder) 706; lead a pretty dance.    ... show more

Roget 706: hinder, impede, filibuster [U.S.], impedite^†, embarrass.    keep off, stave off, ward off; obviate; avert, antevert^†; turn aside, draw off, prevent, forefend, nip in the bud; retard, slacken, check, let; counteract, countercheck^†; preclude, debar, foreclose, estop [Law]; inhibit etc. 761; shackle etc. (restrain) 751; restrict.    obstruct, stop, stay, bar, bolt, lock; block, block up; choke off; belay, barricade; block the way, bar the way, stop the way; forelay^†; dam up etc. (close) 261; put on the brake etc. n.; scotch the wheel, lock the wheel, put a spoke in the wheel; put a stop to etc. 142; traverse, contravene; interrupt, intercept; oppose etc. 708; hedge in, hedge round; cut off; inerclude^†.    interpose, interfere, intermeddle etc. 682.    cramp, hamper; clog, clog the wheels; cumber; encumber, incumber; handicap; choke; saddle with, load with; overload, lay; lumber, trammel, tie one's hands, put to inconvenience; incommode, discommode; discompose; hustle, corner, drive into a corner.    run foul of, fall foul of; cross the path of, break in upon.    thwart, frustrate, disconcert, balk, foil; faze, feaze^†, feeze [U.S.]; baffle, snub, override, circumvent; defeat etc. 731; spike guns etc. (render useless) 645; spoil, mar, clip the wings of; cripple etc. (injure) 659; put an extinguisher on; damp; dishearten etc. (dissuade) 616; discountenance, throw cold water on, spoil sport; lay a wet blanket, throw a wet blanket on; cut the ground from under one, take the wind out of one's sails, undermine; be in the way of, stand in the way of; act as a drag; hang like a millstone round one's neck.    ... show more