prohibitive

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
21
Words With Friends
23
Letters
11
Pronunciation
/pɹəˈhɪbɪtɪv/

Definition of prohibitive

5 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Tending to prohibit, preclude, or disallow.
    “Some countries are more prohibitive than others when it comes to hot topics like euthanasia and cloning.”
See all 5 definitions

adj

  1. Tending to prohibit, preclude, or disallow.
    “Some countries are more prohibitive than others when it comes to hot topics like euthanasia and cloning.”
  2. Requiring an unreasonable or impractical effort.
  3. Costly to the extreme; beyond budget.
    “I'd like to visit Europe someday, but the cost is prohibitive right now.”
    “The economics of rebuilding all the stations covered by the electrification would be prohibitive, but to help bring home to the Glasgow public that their North Clyde suburban service has been transformed, not merely re-equipped with new trains, stations have at least been associated psychologically with the rolling stock by a common colour scheme.”
    “Hendy has come out as something of an evangelist for discontinuous electrification. For Waterloo-Exeter, this could make real sense on a route where the high capital cost of wiring or third rail all the way to Devon would be prohibitive. But what about his vocal support for it on East West Rail, which is effectively a brand new line?”
  4. (US)Being the presumptive or likely winner of a contest.
    ““I think there’s no question about that. I think he’s the prohibitive favorite if he gets in,” Dennis Lennox, a Michigan-based Republican political consultant, told Politico.”
    “[B]ut the math says Joe is our prohibitive nominee, we need to bring the party together[.]”

noun

  1. A negative imperative.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English prohibitif, prohibityve, from Medieval Latin prohibitīvus, from prohibit-, past-participle stem of Latin prohibēre. By surface analysis, prohibit + -ive.

Words you can make from prohibitive

200+ playable · top: PROHIBIT (15 pts)

Best play prohibit 15 points

7-letter words

3 words

6-letter words

17 words

5-letter words

38 words

4-letter words

62 words

3-letter words

58 words

2-letter words

21 words

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