straitjacket

noun [C usually singular] (also straightjacket)

/ˈstreɪtˌdʒæk.ɪt/

Definition

› a strong piece of special clothing that ties the arms to the body and is used for limiting the movements of dangerous prisoners and mentally ill patients whose behaviour is violent: Brody was locked in a padded cell and forced to wear a straitjacket.Prisons and parts of prisonsCoats, jackets and cloaksScience of psychology and psychoanalysisMind and personality › disapproving something that severely limits development or activity in a way that is damaging: He refused to be fitted into any ideological straitjacket.Limiting and restrictingPreventing and impeding

(Definition of straitjacket noun from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)