underrestrain

English

Etymology

under- +‎ restrain

Verb

underrestrain (third-person singular simple present underrestrains, present participle underrestraining, simple past and past participle underrestrained)

1. To fail to restrain sufficiently.
   • 1997, Thomas Szasz, Insanity: The Idea and Its Consequences, →ISBN, page 272:

     By enabling us to divert certain criminals from the penal to the psychiatric system, the fiction of mental illness as destroyer of mens rea protects us from guilt for punishing guilty but crazy criminals; by eschewing formally punishing—and, as a result, by capriciously underrestraining and overrestraining—persons guilty of crimes, this fiction endangers the safety of our persons and property and the integrity of our political system.

   • 2013, Andrew J. Rosenfeld, Veterinary Medical Team Handbook, →ISBN:

     Owners tend to underrestrain or let go when the pet becomes fractious in the new environment.

   • 2015, Gastone G. Celesia, Gregory Hickok, The Human Auditory System, →ISBN:

     As a consequence, we now conceive of auditory hallucinations as closed, intrinsic functional brain states produced by the thalamocortical system in such a way that they are unrestrained by information from the inner ear; of auditory illusions as similar brain states underrestrained by information from the inner ear; and of actual sounds as similar brain states restrained by information from the inner ear.