limiting factor
Americannoun
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Physiology. the slowest, therefore rate-limiting, step in a process or reaction involving several steps.
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Biology. an environmental factor that tends to limit population size.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Imagination was never the limiting factor for Poetic Kinetics creative director Patrick Shearn’s fourth project for Coachella.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026
“As clusters scale, data transfer speeds are becoming a limiting factor, increasing the importance of optical components and materials,” he wrote.
From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026
"Our research shows that iron is a limiting factor in phytoplankton's ability to make oxygen in vast regions of the ocean."
From Science Daily • Jan. 12, 2026
AI’s limiting factor is no longer algorithms or data — it’s the brute-force physics of data-center expansion.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 3, 2025
“The short life span has always been a prime limiting factor in education,” he told George and Julie.
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
