stricture

1. (usually in the plural) A rule restricting behaviour or action.Examples: "To his eyes it had no attraction; it savoured of simony, and was likely to bring down upon him harder and more deserved strictures than any he had yet received: he positively declined to become vicar of Puddingdale under any circumstances."; "1931 Edgar Wallace: Again Sanders "That is a matter for you to discuss with the Government," said Sanders, in his iciest tone. "I am only authorized to collect twenty-eight thousand. I will note your strictures and report them to Whitehall." "I'm passing no strictures said the Major, hastily. He had been warned against Sanders..."; "Even venerable print publications seem to accept that old strictures no longer apply when they move online."Synonyms: constraint, restriction, restraintcountableplural-normallyuncountable

2. (medicine) Abnormal narrowing of a canal or duct in the body.Examples: "Even in the brief moment of his entrance into the magnificence of Anthony Harding's home he had felt a strange little stricture of the throat—a choking, half-suffocating sensation."countableuncountable

3. (obsolete) Strictness.Examples: "a man of stricture and firm abstinence"countableobsoleteuncountable

4. (obsolete) A stroke; a glance; a touch.Examples: "But whatever may be said of other matters , certainly the first draughts and strictures of Natural Religion and Morality are naturally in the Mind"countableobsoleteuncountable

5. (linguistics) The degree of contact, in consonants.countableuncountable