prescriptive
that prescribes; giving directions or injunctions: a prescriptive letter from an anxious father.
depending on or arising from effective legal prescription, as a right or title established by a long unchallenged tenure.
Origin of prescriptive
1Other words from prescriptive
- pre·scrip·tive·ly, adverb
- pre·scrip·tive·ness, noun
- non·pre·scrip·tive, adjective
Words that may be confused with prescriptive
- prescriptive , proscriptive
Words Nearby prescriptive
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use prescriptive in a sentence
The fact that some prescriptive rules are valuable does not mean that every grammatical injunction should be obeyed.
Go Ahead, End With a Preposition: Grammar Rules We All Can Live With | Nick Romeo | November 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was descriptive, prescriptive, and exemplary in its clarity.
For better or worse, the standards are not very prescriptive.
The Incredibly Stupid War on the Common Core | Charles Upton Sahm | April 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSimmons knows she faces an uphill battle—but her goal this time around is to be prescriptive about the problem.
In accordance with a prescriptive right, this remonstrance was received by the king in person on March 14.
The Political History of England - Vol. X. | William Hunt
No institution, no branch of legislature, no church, no prerogative or prescriptive claim has any rights against the Right.
The Life of Mazzini | Bolton KingWoman's prescriptive infirmity had stalked into the sunlight, which had clothed it in the freshness of an originality.
Far from the Madding Crowd | Thomas HardyNo merely prescriptive external rules, borrowed from society when the mothers were girls, can fully answer the purpose.
The Education of American Girls | Anna Callender BrackettA prescriptive government, such as ours, never was the work of any legislator, never was made upon any foregone theory.
Thoughts on the Present Discontents | Edmund Burke
British Dictionary definitions for prescriptive
/ (prɪˈskrɪptɪv) /
making or giving directions, rules, or injunctions
sanctioned by long-standing usage or custom
derived from or based upon legal prescription: a prescriptive title
Derived forms of prescriptive
- prescriptively, adverb
- prescriptiveness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse