In THE CONTEXT OF SCIENCE, I have always liked the verb "to constrain." I have a visceral response to it, as if I can feel the word going about its business of squeezing a value to bring it within specified limits. (It comes from the Latin constringere, to constrict or bind tightly together.) Like a good piece of writing, which casts out the unnecessary and gets straight to the point, the word neatly describes the process astronomers and other scientists use to zero in on a hypothesis that fits the evidence.
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