Cramped

How to spell cramped

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce cramped

What does cramped mean?

1. adjectiveUncomfortably small or restricted in space.
2. verbConfined or restricted something within too narrow a space, or affected by a muscle cramp.

Cramped in a sentence

• adjective

  The family felt cramped in the tiny apartment.

• verb

  The cluttered shelves cramped the small kitchen even further.

• adjective

  The office was so cramped that desks nearly touched.

• verb

  The heavy schedule cramped her plans for the weekend.

Where does cramped come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word cramped derives from the verb 'cramp', which entered English in the late medieval period and is closely tied to the noun 'cramp' meaning a painful, involuntary tightening of a muscle. That noun came from Old French 'crampe', itself drawn from a Germanic source: the Middle Dutch and Middle Low German word 'krampe', meaning a hook or a clamp, and ultimately from a root meaning to bend or contract. A 'crampon', the spiked hook still used by climbers, shares this same family. From the literal idea of metal being clamped or bent tight, the verb developed the figurative sense of squeezing something into too little space, and by the 1600s 'cramped' described conditions that were confined and restrictive. The single consonant in the middle is the usual trap, since some writers expect a double 'm' before adding the ending.

How the word is built

• cramp (to confine or compress)
• -ed (past participle/adjective suffix)