prohibitive
/pɹəˈhɪbɪtɪv/adjective, noun
prohibitive is spelled P-R-O-H-I-B-I-T-I-V-E: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,789th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, prohibitive means “Tending to prohibit, preclude, or disallow” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in prohibitive?
| Letters | 11: P-R-O-H-I-B-I-T-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,789th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is prohibitive?
Prohibitive appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,789th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce prohibitive?
- /pɹəˈhɪbɪtɪv/
Prohibitive has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-prohibitive.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of prohibitive
- more prohibitive comparative
- most prohibitive superlative
- prohibitives plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does prohibitive mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 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.
- 4
USBeing the presumptive or likely winner of a contest.
noun
- 1
A negative imperative.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Prohibitive in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prohibitif , défense |
| German | verhindernd, verbietend, prohibitorisch, untersagend, unterbindend, ausschließend |
| Spanish | prohibitivo |
| Portuguese | proibitivo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does prohibitive come from?
From Middle English prohibitif, prohibityve, from Medieval Latin prohibitīvus, from prohibit-, past-participle stem of Latin prohibēre. By surface analysis, prohibit + -ive.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).