Meaning & use
fetter
A chain or shackle placed around the ankles to restrict movement, or anything that restrains freedom.
See it in a sentence
The prisoners were led out in fetters, the metal chains clanking with every step.
Debt became a fetter that kept the family from ever moving to a new city.
A note on using this word
Fetter is almost always used in the plural, 'fetters', and often appears figuratively for anything that restricts freedom, as in 'the fetters of tradition'.
Words with a similar meaning
shacklerestraintchain
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
Another way to use it
2. verb
To restrain someone with fetters, or to restrict their freedom or actions.
Strict rules on funding fettered the researchers' ability to pursue new ideas.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fetter”, then compare your use with the examples above.
Your draft stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.