AbstractIn answer to Jarchow’s 1981 text, we recently characterized when $C_{\textrm{c}}(X)$ is a $df$-space, finding along the way attractive analytic characterizations of when the Tychonov space $X$ is pseudocompact. Analogues now reveal how exquisitely Warner boundedness lies between these two notions. To illustrate, $X$ is pseudocompact, $X$ is Warner bounded or $C_{\textrm{c}}(X)$ is a $df$-space if and only if for each sequence $(\mu_{n})_{n}\subset C_{\textrm{c}}(X)'$ there exists a sequence $(\varepsilon_{n})_{n}\subset(0,1]$ such that $(\varepsilon_{n}\mu_{n})_{n}$ is weakly bounded, is strongly bounded or is equicontinuous, respectively. Our characterizations and proofs add to and simplify Warner’s.AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 46A08; 46A30; 54C35