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Definition of restrictive adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

restrictive

adjective
 
/rɪˈstrɪktɪv/
 
/rɪˈstrɪktɪv/
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  1. preventing people from doing what they want
    • restrictive laws
    Extra Examples
    • He argued that the law was unduly restrictive.
    • In time, the changes become restrictive.
    • their attempts to make drug legislation more restrictive and repressive
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    • seem
    • become
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    See full entry
  2. (also defining)
    (grammar) (of relative clauses) explaining which particular person or thing you are talking about rather than giving extra information about them. In The books which are on the table are mine, ‘which are on the table’ is a restrictive relative clause. compare non-restrictive
  3. Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French restrictif, -ive, from medieval Latin restrictivus, from restrict- ‘confined’, from the verb restringere, from re- ‘back’ + stringere ‘to tie, pull tight’.
See restrictive in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee restrictive in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
alloy
noun
 
 
From the Topic
Physics and chemistry
C2
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