stricture

Borrowed from Late Latin strictūra, from Latin strictus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɹɪkt͡ʃə(ɹ)/
• enPR: strĭk'chər
• Rhymes: -ɪktʃə(r)

stricture (countable and uncountable, plural strictures)

1. (usually in the plural) a rule restricting behaviour or action

   For them, parity is less an ultimate goal than a transitory and permissive springboard for testing Western resolve and pursuing whatever additional accretions of strategic power the strictures of SALT and American tolerance will allow.

2. a sternly critical remark or review
3. (medicine) abnormal narrowing of a canal or duct in the body
4. (obsolete) strictness
   • Shakespeare

     a man of stricture and firm abstinence

5. (obsolete) a stroke; a glance; a touch

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir M. Hale to this entry?)

6. (linguistics) the degree of contact, in consonants

• constriction
• strict
• stringent

strictūre

1. vocative masculine singular of strictūrus