Wikipedia
A limiting factor of a (system) is an input or variable such that a small change in it from the present value would cause a non-negligible change in an output or other measure of the system. A factor which is not limiting over a certain domain of starting conditions may yet be limiting over another domain of starting conditions, including that of the factor in question. Energy can not be destroyed.
The identification of a factor as limiting is of use only in distinction to one or more other factors which is/are non-limiting. Disciplines differ in their use of the term as to whether they allow the simultaneous existence of more than one limiting factor (which may then be called "co-limiting"), but they all require the existence of at least one non-limiting factor when the terms are used. When all factors are limiting.
Usage examples of "limiting factor".
The limiting factor here was the fact that Iran was still something of an outlaw country with surprisingly little in the way of air travel options.
And the real limiting factor to their chances of survival, here on Titan: not water, not amino acids, but energy.
The run-down of the Topaz suite was the final limiting factor, even if they could bridge all the other gaps in the loops.
The answers were prearranged by the experimenter, so the only limiting factor preventing the teacher from delivering the maximum intensity of the shock machine was his compassion for a human being in pain.
One major limiting factor of growth before the war was the lack of wood to feed the furnaces.
The real limiting factor is the actual weight of the passenger or passengers, isn’.
But on a comet, where the gravity was infinitesimal, there was no limiting factor.
The real limiting factor is the actual weight of the passenger or passengers, isn't it?
It had been anticipated that at least an Earth year would be needed for such transition and that somnolents would be waked only as fast as they could be accommodated dirtside, But the limiting factor now was the scanty ability of the ship's boats to transfer a hundred thousand people as they were roused.
One limiting factor for those ships had always been the way the number of tractor beams they mounted restricted the numbers of pods they could deploy.