constipated
/ˈkɒnstɪpeɪtɪd
/adjective
1Affected with constipation: regular heroin users can become constipated...
- For instance, women often don't take iron pills in pregnancy because they get constipated and assume that this is the effect of the iron.
- This might happen after a very large meal, during pregnancy, if you are constipated, or when you wear tight-waisted clothes or bend forward.
- In a constipated infant, it may be necessary to perform colonic irrigation with limited amounts of sterile saline.
1.1Repressed or inhibited: he’s one of those emotionally constipated, stiff-upper-lip types
Derivatives
constipate
/ verb ...- Cow's milk is the most constipating component of the young child's diet.
- Through a chance conversation, I learned that iron can be constipating.
- But if you don't drink enough liquid to replace what is absorbed, fiber can be constipating.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from Latin constipat- 'crowded or pressed together', from the verb constipare, from con- 'together' + stipare 'press, cram'.