stricture

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin strictūra, from Latin strictus.

noun

1. (usually in the plural) A rule restricting behaviour or action.
   To his eyes it had no attraction; it savoured of simony, and was likely to bring down upon him harder and more deserved strictures than any he had yet received: he positively declined to become vicar of Puddingdale under any circumstances. 1855, Anthony Trollope, chapter //dummy.host/index.php?title=s%3Aen%3AThe+Warden+%28Trollope%2C+1855%29%2FChapter+20 20, in The Warden
   For many young people throughout Britain in the 1970s, Northern Soul became a truly alternative lifestyle with the rites and values of the scene replacing many of the traditional strictures of society. 2013, Elaine Constantine, Gareth Sweeney, Northern Soul: An Illustrated History, Random House, page 12
   Even venerable print publications seem to accept that old strictures no longer apply when they move online. 2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 6, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company
2. A general state of restrictiveness on behavior, action, or ideology.
   I just couldn't take the stricture of that place a single day more.
3. A sternly critical remark or review.
   When he read the poem to his parents, upon its conclusion, both were much impressed by it, though his father made severe strictures upon its lack of polish, its terminal inconcision, and its vagueness of thought. 1889, William Sharp, chapter 2, in Life of Robert Browning
4. (medicine) Abnormal narrowing of a canal or duct in the body.
5. (obsolete) Strictness.
6. (obsolete) A stroke; a glance; a touch.
7. (linguistics) The degree of contact, in consonants.