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
Standards and enforcement mechanisms must be coordinated across borders to prevent forum shopping for more permissive venues.
—
Cornelia C. Walther, Forbes.com, 12 July 2025
Those that share traits with the permissive style, such as giving in to the child’s demands, might struggle more than those who lean toward the authoritative style.
—Anna Earl, Parents, 2 July 2025
Texas has had relatively permissive laws about autonomous vehicles: Unlike in California, there’s no state regulator in Texas that needs to sign off on the service.
—David Ingram, NBC news, 21 June 2025
Over the next 13 years, thousands more children died from firearm violence than earlier trends would have predicted – and all of the increase happened in groups of states that had more permissive gun laws, according to a study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.
—Deidre McPhillips, CNN Money, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for permissive
Cornelia C. Walther, Forbes.com, 12 July 2025
Those that share traits with the permissive style, such as giving in to the child’s demands, might struggle more than those who lean toward the authoritative style.
—Anna Earl, Parents, 2 July 2025
Texas has had relatively permissive laws about autonomous vehicles: Unlike in California, there’s no state regulator in Texas that needs to sign off on the service.
—David Ingram, NBC news, 21 June 2025
Over the next 13 years, thousands more children died from firearm violence than earlier trends would have predicted – and all of the increase happened in groups of states that had more permissive gun laws, according to a study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.
—Deidre McPhillips, CNN Money, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for permissive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for permissive
Adjective
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Compared to most other garden crops, carrots are relatively flexible about their lighting needs and grow in either full or part sun locations.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
23 July 2025
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This entails the focus on more flexible work arrangements and challenges the more deeply rooted traditional relationships between employees and employers.—
Bankim Chandra,
Forbes.com,
23 July 2025
Adjective
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Too informal with answers and language The team acknowledges that Gen Z’s use of slang is one of their defining traits.—
Bryan Robinson,
Forbes.com,
19 July 2025
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As Home Depot spread across America beginning in the 1980s, an informal economy of day laborers looking for work, mostly from Mexico and South America, grew around the company’s sprawling parking lots in cities and suburbs with large immigrant populations.—
Nathaniel Meyersohn,
CNN Money,
18 July 2025
Adjective
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And in most non-city counties, such as Kerr, which had 96 deaths as of Thursday due to floods, some officials tend to be lenient towards building owners with restrictions, some state leaders and environmental experts told ABC News.—
Ivan Pereira,
ABC News,
11 July 2025
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Even if local laws are lenient about when you are allowed to operate a leaf blower, timing is key to good leaf blower etiquette.—
Leanne Potts,
Better Homes & Gardens,
5 July 2025
Adjective
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As for the rooms, there are four accessible cabins and suites that vary in size.—
Jess Feldman,
Travel + Leisure,
20 July 2025
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Policymakers and government officials need to make education more accessible, expand job opportunities and allow housing to become affordable in order to mitigate conditions that foster violence.—
Omer Awan,
Forbes.com,
20 July 2025
Adjective
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But many police departments in the state, including Austin, have faced accusations of lackluster internal investigations and lax discipline that lets officers off the hook with little accountability.—
Austin Sanders,
Austin American Statesman,
26 July 2025
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Some have called the city lax for failing to stop shoplifters, cart scofflaws and other signs of crime and deterioration around the full-service Midway grocer, but the St. Paul Police Department reported this week that officers made more than 500 visits to the 1440 University Ave.—
Frederick Melo,
Twin Cities,
22 July 2025
Adjective
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It’s been a while since someone figured out a way to make the electric guitar sound not only interesting but expansive, dangerous, infinite, pliable.—
Amanda Petrusich,
New Yorker,
21 July 2025
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At an indie level, merengue also proved pliable, merging with metal and industrial riffs in psychedelic epics from Gallo Lester and Mediopicky, and providing a sinewy canvas for the poetic soul-searching of Rita Indiana and Xiomara Fortuna.—
Richard Villegas,
Rolling Stone,
7 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Permissive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/permissive. Accessed 31 Jul. 2025.
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