Restrictive

How to spell restrictive

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce restrictive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does restrictive mean?

1. adjectiveTending to limit, confine, or keep something within narrow bounds.
2. adjectiveDescribing a clause or phrase that is essential to the meaning of the noun it modifies and so is not set off by commas.

Restrictive in a sentence

• The new lease included a restrictive clause about subletting the flat.

• The editor explained that a restrictive clause should not be separated by commas.

• Employees complained that the dress code was too restrictive for summer.

• In the sentence about the book that won the prize, the underlined part is a restrictive relative clause.

Where does restrictive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb restringere, which meant 'to bind fast' or 'to draw back tightly', formed from re- ('back') and stringere ('to pull or draw tight'). The past participle of that verb was restrictus, the form that gives us the modern spelling, with its distinctive str cluster and the hard -ct- before the ending. English took the word in through Old French restrictif during the fifteenth century, and it settled into the meaning of imposing limits or holding something within bounds. The same stringere root sits behind a whole family of relatives, including 'strict', 'stringent', 'constrict', and even 'strait' (as in a narrow passage), all of them carrying that sense of tightness. Remembering that 'strict' lives whole and unchanged in the middle of restrictive is a reliable way to keep the spelling straight.

How the word is built

• re- (back, again)
• strict (from Latin strictus: drawn tight, bound)
• -ive (adjective suffix: tending to)