PERMISSIVE Synonyms: 61 Similar and Opposite Words

permissive

adjective

as in flexible

often disapproving giving people a lot of freedom or too much freedom to do what they want to do permissive parents Some states have more permissive laws than others.

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Recent Examples of permissive The report also showed that regulators had allowed more than 1,400 other older injection wells to operate for decades without any limits whatsoever on injection pressures or volumes — grandfathered in from an earlier era of permissive oversight. —

Nick Bowlin, ProPublica, 17 Mar. 2026 Younger travelers take more risks and have a permissive attitude about everything from recreational drugs to graffiti. —

Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 17 Mar. 2026 How permissive is the environment? —

Shelby Talcott, semafor.com, 7 Mar. 2026 Fundamentally, the glasses are collecting data about the whereabouts of other people all over the world while calling back home to computers owned by a corporation with a track record of collecting far too much information about its users and being far too permissive about what others do with it. —

Sarah Jeong, The Verge, 1 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for permissive

Recent Examples of Synonyms for permissive

Adjective

SMAs provide reliable thermal recovery, while SMPs offer flexible, stimulus-responsive deformation.

— Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 26 Mar. 2026
That option also would provide flexibility with temporary closures, without having to close all of Prospect Avenue, and would implement unique pavers and hardscaping to the Prospect Avenue slip lane to create a flexible shared space.

— Chuck Fieldman, Chicago Tribune, 26 Mar. 2026