Restrictively

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a way that enforces limitations on freedom or action
2. By imposing specific boundaries or conditions on behavior or choices
3. In a way that confines or controls actions or possibilities within set limits

Etymology: "Restrictively" is simply "restrictive" with the adverbial ending "-ly" attached, and that ending has a long pedigree. It traces back through Middle English "-ly" and Old English "-līce" to Proto-Germanic "*-līkô", a suffix built on a root that also gave English "like" and "lich" (as in lychgate, the gate of a corpse). The sense was originally about bodily form or appearance, so the suffix once meant something like "in the manner of" or "having the form of." The adjective "restrictive" is itself an English formation from "restrict," which comes from the Latin "restrictus," the past participle of "restringere," meaning "to draw back tight" or "to bind fast." Adding "-ly" to such an adjective turns a quality into a manner: to act restrictively is to act in a binding, limiting way.

Synonyms: narrowly, limitedly

Antonyms: liberally, generously