as in controlled
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as in regulated
to keep from exceeding a desirable degree or level (as of expression)
try to curb your curiosity when it comes to your neighbors' business
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Recent Examples of curbed
Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2025
New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 26 Apr. 2026
Sirota said Medicaid and HCPF staff worked to give legislators information on where costs were increasing and how those costs could be curbed.
—Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 16 Apr. 2026
Tunnery was diagnosed with glioblastoma and treated her pain with opioids that brought on severe side effects, curbed her appetite and led to a severe physical decline, Cronin and Watson said.
—Clark Corbin, Idaho Statesman, 14 Apr. 2026
Early changes curbed the power of the judiciary, weakened independent watchdogs, and rewrote election rules to favor the ruling party.
—Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2026
Remember those bills moving through the Georgia Legislature that would have protected consumers from rising energy costs from data center expansion or curbed the multimillion-dollar tax breaks that have turned Georgia into a veritable data center cabbage patch?
—Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 7 Apr. 2026
That's up from a roughly $250 billion market during the Great Recession, as more stringent lending standards on traditional banks curbed their lending to mid-sized businesses.
—Sarah Min, CNBC, 30 Mar. 2026
But after Tong said the hitters should be curbed, outfielder Tyrone Taylor fired back.
—Abbey Mastracco, Hartford Courant, 23 Mar. 2026
The administration has cut encounters at the southwest border to a record low, curbed legal migration, and placed a record-high number of people in immigration detention.
—Ximena Bustillo, NPR, 23 Mar. 2026
Adjective
The lack of sufficient post-conflict planning—about what would happen after Gaddafi’s regime was toppled—curbed enthusiasm for future collective security efforts in Syria and elsewhere.
—Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2025
Verb
Lawyers and doctors can lose their licenses to practice, insider traders can be barred from the financial industry, public officials stripped of committee assignments, and dangerous speeding drivers should have their bad habit curbed.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 26 Apr. 2026
Sirota said Medicaid and HCPF staff worked to give legislators information on where costs were increasing and how those costs could be curbed.
—Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 16 Apr. 2026
Tunnery was diagnosed with glioblastoma and treated her pain with opioids that brought on severe side effects, curbed her appetite and led to a severe physical decline, Cronin and Watson said.
—Clark Corbin, Idaho Statesman, 14 Apr. 2026
Early changes curbed the power of the judiciary, weakened independent watchdogs, and rewrote election rules to favor the ruling party.
—Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2026
Remember those bills moving through the Georgia Legislature that would have protected consumers from rising energy costs from data center expansion or curbed the multimillion-dollar tax breaks that have turned Georgia into a veritable data center cabbage patch?
—Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 7 Apr. 2026
That's up from a roughly $250 billion market during the Great Recession, as more stringent lending standards on traditional banks curbed their lending to mid-sized businesses.
—Sarah Min, CNBC, 30 Mar. 2026
But after Tong said the hitters should be curbed, outfielder Tyrone Taylor fired back.
—Abbey Mastracco, Hartford Courant, 23 Mar. 2026
The administration has cut encounters at the southwest border to a record low, curbed legal migration, and placed a record-high number of people in immigration detention.
—Ximena Bustillo, NPR, 23 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for curbed
Adjective
-
Too bad the script feels less controlled and more directionless when each of these characters go head to head with an increasing body count across several bloody incidents.—
Tomris Laffly,
Variety,
14 Mar. 2026
-
Once the legs are free, slow and controlled motions can help a person gradually reach firmer ground.—
Outside,
Outside,
5 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
They’re regulated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to ensure proper safeguards are in place to prevent microscopic cement particles from causing health problems in nearby residents.—
Harrison Mantas,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
25 Apr. 2026
-
The president did not legalize psychedelics or weed, but his orders change the way these drugs will be regulated.—
O. Rose Broderick,
STAT,
24 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
School is the crucible where raw vitality encounters the collective will to impose order and control but also to bring cultural richness to lives that might otherwise remain inhibited and crude.—
Tim Parks,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
-
Her last and only boyfriend, Tim, would have been too inhibited.—
Cassandra Neyenesch,
New Yorker,
29 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The authors argued that the typical American diet contained excessive calories and fat and lacked sufficient amounts of complex carbohydrates and dietary fiber.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Burick and one of his students assemble the base for one of ENIAC’s three portable function tables, which contained banks of switches that stored numerical constants.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
30 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
To the left is a relaxed deck for post-dip chilling; to the right is the beautifully restrained restaurant, partly enclosed in a glasshouse with an undulating canopy roof.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Neither restrained nor overpowering.—
Brock Keeling,
Oc Register,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The breaks kept coming for Orlando.—
Chris Hays,
The Orlando Sentinel,
26 Apr. 2026
-
Trump kept a straight face during Obama’s speech, and at one point even waved during the president’s remarks.—
Rebecca Morin,
USA Today,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The 2021 army takeover triggered massive public resistance that was brutally suppressed, triggering a bloody civil war that has killed thousands of people.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
30 Apr. 2026
-
The market value of media and entertainment stocks remains suppressed, however, amid intensifying competition from tech and streaming companies.—
Dade Hayes,
Deadline,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Keep your responses measured and your commitments realistic so nothing escalates unnecessarily.—
Tarot.com,
The Orlando Sentinel,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Ben Clemens at FanGraphs measured the change, relative to the 2025 regular season, and found that the zone has shrunk at the top of the zone and on the edges of the plate.—
Ian Miller OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
29 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Curbed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/curbed. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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