cramped

UK/kɹæmpt/US/kɹæmpt/

adjectiveB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,000 of 15,258neutral

Cramped means so small that there is no room to move. A cramped flat, cramped conditions, feel cramped.

It describes the effect on the person rather than the measurement — a room is cramped when it stops you doing what you want in it, which is why the same space can be cramped for one use and fine for another. Of handwriting it means small and squeezed. Note cramp, the muscle spasm, which is the same word.

Definitions of cramped

1adjectivecrampedSo small that there is no room to move.B2+
“Six of us shared a cramped flat with one tiny bathroom.”
synonyms: poky, confined

cramped is a quality of confinement.

Practised in Everyday Adjectives

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cramped in the wild

When the initial bight is passed around the object, the rest of the knot can be completed out away from the cramped location.
Axle hitch
Although Black's position is cramped, it has great latent energy, which may be released if Black is able to play...b5 or...d5 at some point.
Hedgehog (chess)
Due to the cramped location, it could not be expanded, and infrastructure could not be improved.
Mountaineer Field (1924)
The statue was made in separate parts and cramped together on an iron frame.
South Bank Lion
Due to the cramped space there was not even enough room for a forehand drive so his own style of play developed.
Howard Walton

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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