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restrictiveness

Variant of restrictive

adjective

  1. restricting or tending to restrict; limiting: restrictive regulations
  2. Gram. designating a modifier, as a word, phrase, or subordinate clause, that limits the reference of the word or phrase it modifies and thus is essential to the meaning of a sentence: it is not set off by punctuation: “who laughed” in “the person who laughed is my friend” is a restrictive relative clause

Origin: ME < MFr restrictif

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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