fettered
/ˈfɛtɚd/adjective, verb
fettered is an adjective meaning “Bound by chains or shackles” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-E-T-T-E-R-E-D and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 16 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does fettered mean?
adjective
- 1
Bound by chains or shackles.
- 2
Restricted.
- 3
Of the feet: bent backward and apparently unfit for walking.
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of fetter
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce fettered?
- UK /ˈfɛtəd/
- US /ˈfɛtɚd/
Fettered has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of fettered
- more fettered comparative
- most fettered superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is fettered?
Fettered appears about once in every 16 million words in written English, the 121,279th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).