Restrictive Meaning
/ɹɪˈstɹɪktɪv/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjConfining, limiting, containing within defined bounds.
adjlimiting free and easy bodily movement.
Sentence Examples
This kind of restrictive legislation is bound to hobble the economy.
I find the concept of Globish restrictive and unreal.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The company's ____ dress code required all employees to wear only black suits.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Critics argued that the new licensing rules were too ____ and would stifle innovation in the sector.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French restrictif. Morphologically restrict + -ive.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The help tended to be officious, the rules, if heeded, restrictive, and the management meddlesome."
— 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 168:
"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)."
— 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 7:
"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."
— 2026 March 18, Philip Haigh, “Tickets please: 2p per scan to offset fraudulent refunds?”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 48:
"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."
— 1980 December 6, Cindy Rizzo, Nancy Toder, “Jewish, Lesbian, Feminist, Psychologist, Author—All of the above and more”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 8:
"[…] 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; […]"
— 2013, Noel Burton-Roberts, Analysing Sentences, page 210:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The company's ____ dress code required all employees to wear only black suits.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Critics argued that the new licensing rules were too ____ and would stifle innovation in the sector.