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
People have passed the point of exhaustion with permissive policies that too often make the well-being of the public at large a secondary concern at best.
—
Editorial, Boston Herald, 11 Aug. 2025
With President Donald Trump in the White House, the agency has reversed course on several crypto enforcement actions, dropping cases against major players like Coinbase and Binance and signaling a more permissive stance.
—Mackenzie Sigalos, CNBC, 11 July 2025
While most experts agree there are four major parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved),1 some online spaces and parenting experts categorize these even further into subtypes like the helicopter or panda parent.
—Anna Earl, Parents, 2 July 2025
In Arizona, with permissive laws.
—IEEE Spectrum, 22 Mar. 2018
See All Example Sentences for permissive
Editorial, Boston Herald, 11 Aug. 2025
With President Donald Trump in the White House, the agency has reversed course on several crypto enforcement actions, dropping cases against major players like Coinbase and Binance and signaling a more permissive stance.
—Mackenzie Sigalos, CNBC, 11 July 2025
While most experts agree there are four major parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved),1 some online spaces and parenting experts categorize these even further into subtypes like the helicopter or panda parent.
—Anna Earl, Parents, 2 July 2025
In Arizona, with permissive laws.
—IEEE Spectrum, 22 Mar. 2018
See All Example Sentences for permissive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for permissive
Adjective
-
Strategies will remain flexible to adjust to changing fire behavior, terrain, and resource availability.—
CA WILDFIRE BOT,
Sacbee.com,
6 Sep. 2025
-
By learning from nature’s most flexible swimmer, the octopus, researchers hope to overcome these challenges and make underwater machines more capable, adaptable, and sustainable.—
Atharva Gosavi,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Even as liberal-seeming Amir invites Yusuf to join the Muslim Association, an informal organization of male Arab landowners, Yusuf’s father is killed in a night-time confrontation with the settlers.—
Ritesh Mehta,
IndieWire,
5 Sep. 2025
-
The only time this percentage has been higher since City joined the informal ranks of that group was in 2009, at the outset of their Abu Dhabi project.—
Chris Weatherspoon,
New York Times,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Between all the aforementioned changes to college sports and the Committee on Infractions' lenient ruling in Michigan football's sign-stealing scandal, now's as good a time as any for Louisville to get started on this.—
Payton Titus,
Louisville Courier Journal,
4 Sep. 2025
-
The authorities decided to be lenient and return the boats after 11 days, with a citation.—
Suwanna Gauntlett Upjohn,
Forbes.com,
31 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
TeamSmile also launched a new pilot program to deliver essential dental care for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), highlighting the urgent need for accessible treatment for these kids.—
Tammy Ljungblad,
Kansas City Star,
10 Sep. 2025
-
When performance metrics and strategic key performance indicators are accessible, broader stakeholder groups, including minority shareholders and society, can engage more meaningfully with corporate governance.—
Michael Hilb,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
States and cities eager to maximize parking in busy areas have a long history of lax enforcement of laws that usually require about 20 feet of no-parking zones around crosswalks.—
Phaedra Trethan,
USA Today,
3 Sep. 2025
-
Since then, Brittney and her husband, Luke Bird, have been pushing Wisconsin to recognize sextortion as a standalone crime and to hold big tech companies like Meta accountable for lax child-safety regulations.—
Natalie Eilbert,
jsonline.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
This actually perfect pie crust is very, very pliable.—
Bon Appétit,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
4 Sep. 2025
-
This causes the eardrum, a thin, pliable membrane, to stretch.—
Melissa Willets,
Parents,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Permissive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/permissive. Accessed 12 Sep. 2025.
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