(fetters, fettering, fettered)
1.
If you say that you are fettered by something, you dislike it because it prevents you from behaving or moving in a free and natural way. (LITERARY)
...a private trust which would not be fettered by bureaucracy...
The black mud fettered her movements.
= hamper
VERB: be V-ed, V n [disapproval]
2.
You can use fetters to refer to things such as rules, traditions, or responsibilities that you dislike because they prevent you from behaving in the way you want. (LITERARY)
= constraints
N-PLURAL: usu with supp, oft N of n [disapproval]