How to Use permissive in a Sentence

permissive

adjective
  • Some states have more permissive laws than others.
  • Low-risk work can be faster and more permissive.
    — Muhamad Aly Rifai, Forbes.com, 5 Feb. 2026
  • All of you are from states where there are fairly permissive gun laws.
    — CBS News, 22 Jan. 2023
  • States tend to be more permissive in paying for care to adults.
    — Meg Wingerter, Denver Post, 20 Nov. 2025
  • Kansas has its own slate of permissive gun laws.
    — Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Counties can be stricter than their state tier, but not more permissive.
    — Nora Mishanec, SFChronicle.com, 22 Sep. 2020
  • There are other routes to the same permissive stance.
    — Dan Turello, New Yorker, 10 Jan. 2026
  • But some doctors have complained that some boards are too permissive.
    — Lenny Bernstein, chicagotribune.com, 5 Sep. 2017
  • That’s not because more people agree with more permissive gun laws.
    — German Lopez, Vox, 24 Mar. 2018
  • Some countries in this group are more permissive than others.
    — New York Times, 22 Jan. 2022
  • So, what drove the West’s permissive-for-their-times voting laws?
    — Jessica Flores, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2020
  • These rules are more permissive than those published just a few months earlier.
    — Washington Post, 2 Dec. 2020
  • Maine, by contrast, has some of the most permissive fireworks laws in the country.
    — Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 3 July 2025
  • At least that’s a bit more permissive of my impending glutathione habit.
    — NBC News, 5 Feb. 2018
  • Ohio was categorized in the group with the most permissive laws.
    — Tribune News Service, Twin Cities, 21 June 2025
  • Some say the companies have been too permissive with state media.
    — Elizabeth Dwoskin, Gerrit De Vynck, Taylor Telford, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Mar. 2022
  • Florida is one of the most permissive states in the country for gun purchasers.
    — Benjamin Hart, Daily Intelligencer, 9 Mar. 2018
  • My permissive approach to casting meant some characters were played by more than one kid.
    — Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2023
  • Reddit has long been the most permissive of the major social media sites.
    — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, 26 Oct. 2017
  • Black youth also saw the largest increase in firearm deaths in the most permissive and permissive states.
    — Cara Tabachnick, CBS News, 11 June 2025
  • Just a week later, Maxwell was moved to a more permissive prison camp in Texas.
    — NBC news, 21 Dec. 2025
  • The other three proposals -- all filed in the House -- would be much more permissive of guns.
    — Julia O'Donoghue, NOLA.com, 27 Mar. 2018
  • Children's deaths by both homicide and suicide also rose in states that had the most permissive firearm laws, the study found.
    — Cara Tabachnick, CBS News, 11 June 2025
  • At the same time, the state’s gun laws have become increasingly permissive.
    — Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 16 June 2022
  • In Arizona, with permissive laws.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 22 Mar. 2018
  • The main cause of a child being spoiled is when a parent is too lenient or what’s called permissive parenting.
    — Denise Schipani, Parents, 3 Nov. 2023
  • Grok seems to be unique among major chatbots in its permissive stance and apparent holes in safeguards.
    — Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 2 Jan. 2026
  • Mississippi's gun laws are among the most permissive in the country.
    — Priya Krishnakumar, CNN, 28 Dec. 2021
  • And other research shows that police are more likely to be killed in the line of duty in states with more permissive gun laws.
    — Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post, 30 July 2019
  • Even with permissive zoning laws, many entrepreneurs are still sorting out how to obtain a license from the state.
    — Kyle Stokes, Axios, 3 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'permissive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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