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rein

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A strap or rope attached to a bridle or bit, used to control a horse, animal or young child.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

rayn
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɹeɪn

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A strap or rope attached to a bridle or bit, used to control a horse, animal or young child.

  2. One of a pair of long straps (usually connected to the bit or the headpiece) used to control a horse

  3. figurative

    An instrument or means of curbing, restraining, or governing.

  4. The inward impulses; the affections and passions, formerly supposed to be located in the area of the kidneys.

verb

  1. Stop or slow up one's horse or oneself by or as if by pulling the reins

    “They reined in in front of the post office.”

  2. transitive

    To restrain; to control; to check.

  3. Stop or check by or as if by a pull at the reins

    “He reined in his horses in front of the post office.”

  4. Control and direct with or as if by reins

  5. transitive

    To direct or stop a horse by using reins.

  6. intransitive

    To obey directions given with the reins.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A strap or rope attached to a bridle or bit, used to control a horse, animal or young child.

Used this way, rein is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in family or home contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Family/home

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use rein

  • “They reined in in front of the post office.”verb
  • “He reined in his horses in front of the post office.”verb
  • “He took up the reins of government.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

free reindraw reintight reinfull reinloose reingive reingiving reinleft rein

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • rein orchisnounCompound term

    Any of several American wildflowers with a kidney-shaped lip.

  • rein orchidnounCompound term

    Any of several American wildflowers with a kidney-shaped lip.

  • rein inverbCompound term

    Stop or slow up one's horse or oneself by or as if by pulling the reins.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: strap or rope attached to a bridle

harness

verb

Sense: stop or slow up one's horse or oneself by

rein in

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.