restraint of trade
noun
Simple meaning
An agreement that prevents fair competition on the open market.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rihstrayntuhvtraydSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɹɪstˈɹeɪntəvtɹeɪd
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
law
An agreement that prevents fair competition on the open market, such as an agreement by one party to hire a second party to work within a profession on the condition that the second party will not compete against the first.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: An agreement that prevents fair competition on the open market, such as an agreement by one party to hire a second party to work within a profession on the condition that the second party will not compete against the first.
Used this way, restraint of trade is a specialist word with a mildly favourable edge. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.