From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Restrain \Re*strain"\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Restrained}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Restraining}.] [OE. restreinen, F. restreindre, fr. L. restringere, restrictum; pref. re- re- + stringere to draw, bind, or press together. See {Strain}, verb (used with an object), and cf. {Restrict}.]
1. To draw back again; to hold back from acting, proceeding, or advancing, either by physical or moral force, or by any interposing obstacle; to repress or suppress; to keep down; to curb.
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature Gives way to in repose! --Shak.
2. To draw back toghtly, as a rein. [Obs.] --Shak.
3. To hinder from unlimited enjoiment; to abridge.
Though they two were committed, at least restrained of their liberty. --Clarendon.
4. To limit; to confine; to restrict. --Trench.
Not only a metaphysical or natural, but a moral, universality also is to be restrained by a part of the predicate. --I. Watts.
Thou restrained prayer before God. --Job. xv. 4.
Syn: To check; hinder; stop; withhold; repress; curb; suppress; coerce; restrict; limit; confine.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: cool and formal in manner [syn: {reserved}, {reticent}, {unemotional}]
2: under restraint [ant: {unrestrained}]
3: marked by avoidance of extravagance or extremes; "moderate in his demands"; "restrained in his response" [syn: {moderate}]
4: not showy or obtrusive; "clothes in quiet good taste" [syn: {quiet}]
5: free from ostentation or pretension; "the restrained elegance of the room" [syn: {modest}, {unostentatious}]
6: prudent; "guarded optimism" [syn: {guarded}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
156 Moby Thesaurus words for "restrained": Attic, Ciceronian, Olympian, aesthetic, aloof, arrested, artistic, aseptic, backward, barred, bashful, beleaguered, beset, besieged, blank, blockaded, bound, bridled, cabined, caged, chaste, chastened, chilled, chilly, choice, classic, clear, cloistered, closed-in, cold, confined, constrained, controlled, cool, cooped, cordoned, cordoned off, corralled, cramped, cribbed, curbed, detached, direct, discreet, distant, easy, elegant, enclosed, excellent, expressionless, fenced, finished, forbidding, frigid, frosty, frugal, graceful, gracile, guarded, hedged, hemmed, hushed, icy, immured, impassive, impersonal, imprisoned, in check, in control, in good taste, in hand, in leading strings, in remission, inaccessible, incarcerated, incommunicable, inhibited, introverted, jailed, leaguered, limited, limpid, lucid, measured, mewed, moderate, modest, natural, neat, noncommittal, of choice, of quality, offish, on leash, paled, pellucid, penned, pent-up, perspicuous, plain, pleasing, polished, pure, quarantined, quelled, quiet, railed, reasonable, refined, remote, removed, repressed, reserved, retarded, reticent, retiring, round, shrinking, shut-in, simple, slowed down, sober, softened, sparing, stable, standoff, standoffish, stinting, straightforward, subdued, suppressed, tasteful, tasty, temperate, tempered, terse, trim, unaffable, unaffected, unapproachable, uncongenial, undemonstrative, under control, under discipline, under restraint, understated, unexcessive, unexpansive, unextreme, ungenial, unlabored, unobtrusive, walled, walled-in, well-chosen, withdrawn
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