a tight feeling in some part of the body; "he felt a constriction in her chest"; "she felt an alarming tightness in her chest"; "emotion caused a constriction of his throat"
tight or narrow compression
a narrowing that reduces the flow through a channel
a wrestling hold in which the arms are pressed against the opponent's windpipe
complete power over a person or situation; "corporations have a stranglehold on the media"; "the president applied a chokehold to labor disputes that inconvenienced the public"
termination of operations; "they regretted the closure of the day care center"
a Gestalt principle of organization holding that there is an innate tendency to perceive incomplete objects as complete and to close or fill gaps and to perceive asymmetric stimuli as symmetric
a rule for limiting or ending debate in a deliberative body
terminate debate by calling for a vote; "debate was closured"; "cloture the discussion"
a punishment in which a student must stay at school after others have gone home; "the detention of tardy pupils"
a state of being confined (usually for a short time); "his detention was politically motivated"; "the prisoner is on hold"; "he is in the custody of police"
a serve that strikes the net before falling into the receiver's court; the ball must be served again
leave unchanged; "let it be"
actively cause something to happen; "I let it be known that I was not interested"
make it possible through a specific action or lack of action for something to happen; "This permits the water to rush in"; "This sealed door won't allow the water come into the basement"; "This will permit the rain to run off"
some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity; "the telephone is an annoying interruption"; "there was a break in the action when a player was hurt"
the act of repressing; control by holding down; "his goal was the repression of insolence"
(psychiatry) the classical defense mechanism that protects you from impulses or ideas that would cause anxiety by preventing them from becoming conscious
a state of forcible subjugation; "the long repression of Christian sects"