I was very surprised this morning, in checking out whether constrict could be used as a noun, that it couldn't--at least in the references I checked.

And now that's got me bothered. What would be a noun that means a mental belief, opinion, or idea that takes a general body of similar beliefs, opinions or ideas and restrains them to a constricted application.

It wouldn't be a construct as applied here because such an idea would be a constriction of a construct.

Any help out there?

Best regards,
WW

I'd say a constriction.

I like it Dub' Dub. It's a noun based on the use of construct as a noun that bears the same relation to the general meaning of constriction that construct has to the general construction. A constrict is a construct that limits one's understanding of the subject.

Yeah, Faldage, I like it, too...but in ain't a noun. And I like it better than constriction, which I ended up using in the post I was writing, because constrict is more constricted thatn constriction!

I like it, too...but in ain't a noun.

It's a noun if we make it a noun. Whaddaya, think they got a bunch people at the dictionaries set around in a smoke-filled room inventing new words and voting on them? No! We invent the words and we use them! They just wait until enough of us use them that it penetrates their thick skulls and then they write them up in their dictionaries.

OK, Faldage--you use it; I'll use it. Accent on first syllable as a noun, right? CON - strict.

"My great grandfather's constrict on proper Baptist burial was out of the graveyard and into the woods."

Is that a constrict or what?

DubDub, who really does need to constrict her activities here this morning and return to a day of pedagogical research gag me with a highly constricting spoon

OK, Faldage--you use it; I'll use it. Accent on first syllable as a noun

You got it!

WW, a deep bow to you. Rare is the poster (hi, Jackie!!) who can work Faldage up to the feverishly* pitched point of using an emoticon.

~~~
*no hyphen needed, right?

Party-pooper! What with Faldage all feverishly pitched and all, you had to bring it up didn'tcha?

Party-pooper! What with Faldage all feverishly pitched and all, you had to bring it up didn'tcha?

in ASp's discussion ... "faldage constrained" ...

what a fascinating image, bel!

Nouns can be created any time one has a special definition to go with them I can readily imagine a philosopher finding what he considers a new concept, and consigning "constrict" to it. In discussing the way religion denies men freedom of thought, dogma could be called a constrict used to control the masses.

You know what, I like constrict as a noun. Add my vote. I'm using it. If it starts popping up all over the world then maybe in a few years it *will make it into the dictionaries.

What's wrong with constraint?

Constraint, to me implies something externally imposed and not even necessarily making the limitation naturally imposed. As in, you are constrained from performing such and such an act under penalty of.... A constrict prevents you from performing an act because your language doesn't even allow you to conceive of the act.