descriptive
[dih-skrip-tiv]
- having the quality of describing; characterized by description: a descriptive passage in an essay.
- Grammar.
- (of an adjective or other modifier) expressing a quality of the word it modifies, as fresh in fresh milk.Compare limiting(def 2).
- (of a clause) nonrestrictive.Compare restrictive(def 4).
- noting, concerned with, or based upon the fact or experience.
- characterized by or based upon the classification and description of material in a given field: descriptive botany.
Origin of descriptive
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for descriptive
Contemporary Examples
And so we are all supposed to denote something from “working mother” as a descriptive adjective.
The name is descriptive: they are extremely intense bursts of gamma rays, the highest energy form of light.
It was descriptive, prescriptive, and exemplary in its clarity.
Even her descriptive imagery, when describing landscapes, is Kikuyu.
We just wanted to hear the dry, descriptive case that BDS, for better or worse, is gaining ground.
Historical Examples
In subject they are either erotic, mythologic, or descriptive of nature.
Ballads of a BohemianRobert W. Service
The former is particular or descriptive; the latter is general.
Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 3 of 3)John Morley
The problem of the descriptive course is the problem of the high school.
College TeachingPaul Klapper
An elementary course followed by a course in descriptive geometry.
College TeachingPaul Klapper
Wagner's motives are marvellous in their descriptive and soul-stirring power.
War Letters of a Public-School BoyPaul Jones.
descriptive
- characterized by or containing description; serving to describe
- grammar (of an adjective) serving to describe the referent of the noun modified, as for example the adjective brown as contrasted with my and former
- relating to or based upon description or classification rather than explanation or prescriptiondescriptive linguistics
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for descriptive
adj.
1751, from Late Latin descriptivus, from descript-, past participle stem of describere (see description). Related: Descriptively; descriptiveness.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper