restrictive
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.limiting what people can do or how they can behave.
adj.imposing restrictions on liberty, action, or choice.
Simple“The new laws are very restrictive and prevent people from traveling freely.”
In context“The government faced criticism for its restrictive trade policies, which many argued would stifle innovation and discourage foreign investment.”
Antonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.fitting too tightly or making it hard to move your body.
adj.physically constraining or limiting the range of bodily motion.
Simple“I found the formal suit very restrictive after wearing casual clothes all week.”
In context“The athlete complained that the new uniform was too restrictive around the shoulders, affecting his performance during the race.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
adj.describing a part of a sentence that is necessary to identify the person or thing you are talking about.
adj.functioning to narrow the potential referents of a noun phrase; essential to the identity of the head noun.
Simple“In the phrase 'the car that is red', the word 'that' starts a restrictive clause.”
In context“The distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses is crucial for correct punctuation, as the latter requires commas to indicate supplementary information.”
UsageIn English grammar, restrictive clauses are usually not set off by commas.
- 04 C2 Proficiency
n.a short way to say 'restrictive clause' or 'restrictive element'.
n.a linguistic element, such as a relative clause, that functions restrictively.
Simple“The teacher explained how to identify a restrictive in a complex sentence.”
In context“The author’s frequent use of the restrictive without proper antecedent clarity led to several ambiguities in the technical manual.”
Synonyms
“Rights groups have criticised those rules as too restrictive.”
“Burnham immediately said he was “pausing” the scheme pending a rethink, and early last week he announced he was changing the rules to make the scheme more restrictive .”
From Middle French restrictif. Morphologically restrict + -ive.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.