prohibitive

adjective

pro·​hib·​i·​tive prō-ˈhi-bə-tiv 

prə-

1

: tending to prohibit or restrain

2

: tending to preclude use or purchase

prohibitive costs

3

: almost certain to perform as predicted

a prohibitive favorite

prohibitively adverb

prohibitiveness noun

Examples of prohibitive in a Sentence

the prohibitive cost of rent

Recent Examples on the Web

Adding another big contract would have been prohibitive ahead of an offseason where the Ravens will want to pay center Tyler Linderbaum, nose tackle Travis Jones, tight end Isaiah Likely and several others. —Jeff Zrebiec, New York Times, 5 Nov. 2025

But shouldn’t said costs sometimes be prohibitive? —Judy Berman, Time, 5 Nov. 2025

The Aggies improved to 8-0 and showed exactly why wealthy schools unhappy with their progress but facing the pain of expensive buyouts may be willing to eat costs that in the past might have been prohibitive. —Andrew Greif, NBC news, 27 Oct. 2025

There has been mounting outside pressure on LSU to make a coaching change at the top, but Kelly's approximate $52 million buyout is prohibitive. —Jordan Sigler, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for prohibitive

• inhibitive

Kids Definition

prohibitive

adjective

pro·​hib·​i·​tive prō-ˈhib-ət-iv 

: likely to discourage use or purchase

prohibitive prices

prohibitively adverb