shackled
Bound in chains
Shackled means bound with shackles—metal restraints fastened around wrists or ankles: The prisoners were shackled together.
The word extends to any severe constraint on freedom or movement: shackled by debt, shackled to a job she hated.
The figurative use emphasizes not just limitation but the sense of being trapped against one's will.
Bound with links
- fetteredBound in chains
- manacledBound by wrist restraints
- boundSecured or destined
- cuffedBound at wrists
handcuffed · leg irons · ball and chain · iron chains · trussed · tied · tethered · yoked
Confined in prison
- jailedConfined in prison
- confinedKept within bounds
- captiveOne held by force
- detainedHeld against one's will
locked up · imprisoned · dungeon · cell · prisoner · inmate · enslaved · bondage
Forced into narrow limits
- restrictedLimited in scope
- hinderedSlowed or obstructed
- impededObstructed or slowed
- encumberedMade difficult to move
burdened · limited · inhibited · stifled · suppressed · obstructed · held back · tied down
chained
Bound with links
cuffed · handcuffed · leg irons · ball and chain · iron chains · trussed · tied · tethered · yoked · pinioned
incarcerated
Confined in prison
detained · locked up · imprisoned · dungeon · cell · prisoner · inmate · enslaved · bondage · servitude
constrained
Forced into narrow limits
- restrictedLimited in scope
- hinderedSlowed or obstructed
- impededObstructed or slowed
encumbered · burdened · limited · inhibited · stifled · suppressed · obstructed · held back · tied down · weighed down
- boundbound, tied, restrained, confined, restricted
- status effectsdebuffed, poison, hexed, burn, cursed
- burdenedburdened, laden, loaded, weighed down, overburdened
- wrongedabused, mistreated, victimized, exploited, oppressed
shackledunbound
Not tied down
unshackled · unchained · unfettered · released · untied
shackledfree
Without payment or restriction
liberated · emancipated · independent · autonomous · self-governing
shackledunburdened
Freed from a load
unencumbered · unfettered · unrestricted · uninhibited · encouraged
- iron shackles
- slave shacklesRestraints binding enslaved people
shackle, shackles, unshackle, unshackled, shackling, unshackling, unshackles