noun ·4 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The relative likelihood of something or someone to grant permission or allow something to happen. uncountable

   "The permissiveness of campus life leads many college freshmen to try things they would never have experienced at home."

2. 2
   a disposition to allow freedom of choice and behavior wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

abandonabandonmentcarelessnesscharitablenesscharitycoddling

Antonyms

All antonyms

unpermissiveness

Example

More examples

"That's all a result of permissiveness and failure to punish."

Etymology

From permissive + -ness.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.