permissive

C2+ Topic:Social Issues & Human Rights

US /pərˈmɪsɪv/ UK /pəˈmɪsɪv/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
allowing freedom of behavior; lenient or tolerant

Critics blamed a permissive upbringing for his recklessness.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · allowing freedom of... lenient tolerant indulgent liberal easygoing lax forbearing

Opposites

strict authoritarian restrictive prohibitive severe

Word family

Derived forms permissivelypermissiveness

Related forms permit permission permissible

Etymology

From Medieval Latin permissivus, from Latin permissus, past participle of permittere ('to allow'), from per- ('through') + mittere ('to send').

permittere Latin mittere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Social Issues & Human Rights Word Formation & Derivatives

# permissive

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** pərˈmɪsɪv
**IPA (UK):** pəˈmɪsɪv

## Meanings
1. allowing freedom of behavior; lenient or tolerant

## Examples
- Critics blamed a permissive upbringing for his recklessness.

## Synonyms
- lenient
- tolerant
- indulgent
- liberal
- easygoing
- lax
- forbearing

## Antonyms
- strict
- authoritarian
- restrictive
- prohibitive
- severe

## Derived Forms
- permissively
- permissiveness

## Related Forms
- permit
- permission
- permissible

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: permittere
- Root: mittere

## Etymology
From Medieval Latin permissivus, from Latin permissus, past participle of permittere ('to allow'), from per- ('through') + mittere ('to send').

## AI Etymology
Permissive is from Medieval Latin permissivus, from Latin permissus, past participle of permittere ('to allow'), from per- ('through') + mittere ('to send'). Important recorded forms include permittere (Latin) and mittere (Latin). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers allowing freedom of behavior; lenient or tolerant. The wider family includes derived forms such as permissively and permissiveness and related words such as permit, permission, and permissible.

## Topics
- Social Issues & Human Rights
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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permissive

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