Restrictive

/ɹɪˈstɹɪktɪv/ · adjective

Meaning

Confining, limiting, containing within defined bounds..

Definitions by Sense

1. Confining, limiting, containing within defined bounds.
2. (Of clothing) limiting free and easy bodily movement.
3. (grammar) A clause that narrows the meaning of a noun or noun phrase.

Example Sentences

The help tended to be officious, the rules, if heeded, restrictive, and the management meddlesome.

The pinnacle of the effort to fix restrictive meanings to a set of terminology can be found in two papers in American Speech by Feinsilver (1979, 1980).

RDG explains: "From April 1 2026, the following tickets, Anytime, Off-Peak, Day Travelcards and most Ranger and Rover tickets, will no longer be refundable on the day they become valid for travel." It calls the £40m it thinks it loses "refund abuse", which it explains as "refunds on tickets that have been used but not scanned or endorsed, where a customer falsely states that they did not travel". I'm sure such abuse takes place (and that it's done by passengers). But RDG is taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut and punishing many millions of honest passengers by making tickets more restrictive.

Some of them [teenagers] who will become lesbians clearly are being hit with the same kind of garbage which we got hit with in the fifties. There's been a real resurgence of that in terms of values and double standards and music. The clothes again — we're back to high heels and restrictive little femmy outfits.

[…] a couple of further differences between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses: (1) in contrast with restrictives, the wh-phrase in non-restrictives cannot be ellipted; […]

Synonyms for restrictive

Antonyms for restrictive

Related Words

Word Forms

• more restrictive
• most restrictive
• restrictives

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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