permissive
/pəɹˈmɪsɪv/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.77 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Giving permission, or predisposed to give it; lenient.
adj
Open to the public by permission of the landowner.
adj
That allows the replication of viruses.
noun
A grammatical form indicating that an action is permitted by the speaker.
Example Sentences
- "For neither Man nor Angel can discern / Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks / Invisible, except to God alone, / By his permissive will, through Heaven and Earth;"
- ""Permissive" working allows more than one train to be in a block section at one time but trains must be run at low speed in order to stop on sight behind the train in front. Such working is often authorised to allow freight trains to "bunch" together to await a path through a bottleneck instead of being strung out over several block sections, as would be necessary if absolute working were in force."
- "More to the point: 20 years ago, I did not perceive a political dimension to parenting. Some parents were too strict, some parents were too permissive and some parents were just right — and I saw no connection between parenting style and parental politics."
- "Many permissive paths work well and have done for a significant amount of time, enhancing or connecting our network of public footpaths, byways and bridleways, however unevenly distributed."
Etymology
From French permissif.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: permissif
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pəɹˈmɪsɪv/
- British English: /pəˈmɪsɪv/