limiting

adjective

lim·​it·​ing ˈli-mə-tiŋ 

1

a

: functioning as a limit : restrictive

limiting value

b

: being an environmental factor (such as a nutrient) that limits the population size of an organism

2

: serving to specify the application of the modified noun

this in "this book" is a limiting word

limitingly adverb

Examples of limiting in a Sentence

A limiting factor on our country's economic performance is its lack of resources.

As a writer, I find the drama genre to be very limiting.

Recent Examples on the Web

For the third, the most limiting factor is officer training. —Jack Watling, Foreign Affairs, 2 May 2024

Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, says that successive privacy settlements over the years have become more limiting and more specific to account for the growing, near-constant surveillance of Americans by the technology around them. —Paresh Dave, WIRED, 20 Dec. 2023

Though rising interest rates have begun to interfere with all kinds of energy development, the price of solar energy continues to drop, and there’s no obvious limiting factor to its spread. —Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2023

But the biggest limiting factor for the human pilots is the video feed. —IEEE Spectrum, 31 Aug. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1644, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing limiting

• self-limiting

Kids Definition

limiting

adjective

lim·​it·​ing

: being an environmental factor (as food) that limits the size of a population of living things