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Glite Dictionary
🚽 To block bowels 🐢 To slow down
to constipate

to constipate

1 7.7
Block or slow the normal flow of things like traffic
  • verb
  • /ˈkɒnstɪpeɪt/
translation icon : obstruir
  • Enough of that would constipate the flow of goods through Walmart, thereby depriving Walmart of expected cash flow per minute, but not inconveniencing the employees who get paid by the hour regardless (issues of unpaid work which is oh-so-technically "illegal" aside, of course).

Examples

  • Congress is constipated and needs a laxative to clean out all of the stuff that has corrupted our country.

    Blog text (25)

  • Our state government is completely constipated due to Prop 13.

    Blog text (4)

  • No more of the tension that constipated her for weeks.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Constipated?

    The Tuxedo (2002)

  • He's getting a cold, sore throat, constipated, can't think.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I keep hearing that with hashis you're supposed to be constipated, you're supposed to be overweight, etc.

    Blog text (31)

  • The outdated programming left the software constipated, making it slow and unresponsive.

  • Excessive regulations can constipate the flow of new businesses entering the market.

  • Too much information in a presentation can constipate the audience's understanding of the main idea.

Synonyms

to hamper
vsto constipate
47 4.2

To make it harder for someone or something to move forward

can involve an actual blockage or cause sluggishness as well as difficulty
to clog
vsto constipate
21 3.2

To block a pipe or passage so flow stops

also means to make systems slow or inactive, not only physical blockage
to clog up
vsto constipate
9 3.7

To block a drain or road so things cannot move through it

also refers to making something sluggish or inactive rather than only physical blockage

Antonyms

to facilitate
  • Formal
187 4.9

To make a task or process easier and help it happen

to unblock
3 3.1

Remove something that stops a pipe, machine, or blood vessel from working

How Blocked

to constipate
1 7.7
to clog
21 3.2
to impede
35 6.5
to hamper
47 4.2
to slow
957 1.0

Surface Forms

constipate infinitive
constipated past
constipated past participle
constipating present participle
constipates third person singular

Morphology

constipate = constipation (semi-transparent) = con + stip + ate

The figurative sense ('to clog or obstruct flow') is an extension of the medical sense and is somewhat predictable from 'constipation', but it is metaphorical rather than literal.

Etymology

The word constipate also comes from the same Latin constipare meaning 'to press together', and so it can mean to block or slow a movement or process. That's why we can say too much paperwork or anxiety 'constipates' decision making, like a traffic jam that stops progress.