Fetter

/ˈfet.ə/ · noun

Meaning

(usually plural) A chain or similar object used to bind a person or animal, often by its legs..

Definitions by Sense

1. (usually plural) A chain or similar object used to bind a person or animal, often by its legs.
2. (figurative) Anything that restricts or restrains.
3. (transitive) To shackle or bind up with fetters.
4. (transitive) To restrain or impede; to hamper.

Example Sentences

Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound.

He looks upon study as an odious fetter; his time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the lake.

That was the turning-point of my life. I broke my fetters, and I fought a hard fight for a new career …

The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!

Synonyms for fetter

Antonyms for fetter

Related Words

Word Forms

• fetters
• fettering
• fettered

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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