Meaning

Tending to prohibit, preclude, or disallow..

Definitions by Sense

1. Tending to prohibit, preclude, or disallow.
2. Requiring an unreasonable or impractical effort.
3. Costly to the extreme; beyond budget.
4. (US) Being the presumptive or likely winner of a contest.
5. (grammar) A negative imperative.

Example Sentences

Some countries are more prohibitive than others when it comes to hot topics like euthanasia and cloning.

I'd like to visit Europe someday, but the cost is prohibitive right now.

The economics of rebuilding all the stations covered by the electrification would be prohibitive, but to help bring home to the Glasgow public that their North Clyde suburban service has been transformed, not merely re-equipped with new trains, stations have at least been associated psychologically with the rolling stock by a common colour scheme.

Hendy has come out as something of an evangelist for discontinuous electrification. For Waterloo-Exeter, this could make real sense on a route where the high capital cost of wiring or third rail all the way to Devon would be prohibitive. But what about his vocal support for it on East West Rail, which is effectively a brand new line?

“I think there’s no question about that. I think he’s the prohibitive favorite if he gets in,” Dennis Lennox, a Michigan-based Republican political consultant, told Politico.

[B]ut the math says Joe is our prohibitive nominee, we need to bring the party together[.]

Word Forms

• more prohibitive
• most prohibitive
• prohibitives

Synonyms for prohibitive

Related Words

When Should You Use Prohibitive?

Use prohibitive when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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