restrictive
adjective
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Restrictive covenants (that is, agreements) in real-estate deeds were once used to forbid the buyer from ever selling the property to anyone of another race. These are now illegal, though other kinds of restrictive covenants are very common; in some neighborhoods, they may even tell you what colors you can't paint your house. In grammar, a restrictive clause is one that limits the meaning of something that comes before it. In the sentence "That's the professor who I'm trying to avoid", "who I'm trying to avoid" is a restrictive clause, since it's what identifies the professor. But in the sentence "That's my History professor, who I'm trying to avoid", the same clause is nonrestrictive, since the professor has already been identified as "my History professor". There should always be a comma before a nonrestrictive clause, but not before a restrictive clause.
Examples of restrictive in a Sentence
Kate Wolffe
october 23, Sacbee.com, 23 Oct. 2025
Some states have more restrictive residency rules.
—Anna Kleiber, jsonline.com, 23 Oct. 2025
Vasily Astrov, a Russia expert at the Institute, said that the main reason for the slump in growth is the Russian Central Bank’s (CBR) overly restrictive monetary policy.
—Brendan Cole, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Oct. 2025
The cap situation was tight heading into the offseason, and things got more restrictive when Trent Frederic and Evan Bouchard signed long-term pacts.
—Daniel Nugent-Bowman, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for restrictive
Cite this Entry
“Restrictive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/restrictive. Accessed 25 Oct. 2025.
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restrictive
adjective
Legal Definition
restrictive
adjective
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