descriptive

[ dih-skrip-tiv ]

adjective

1. having the quality of describing; characterized by description:

   a descriptive passage in an essay.

2. Grammar.
   1. (of an adjective or other modifier) expressing a quality of the word it modifies, as fresh in fresh milk. Compare limiting ( def 2 ).
   2. (of a clause) nonrestrictive. Compare restrictive ( def 4 ).
3. noting, concerned with, or based upon the fact or experience.
4. characterized by or based upon the classification and description of material in a given field:

   descriptive botany.

descriptive

/ dɪˈskrɪptɪv /

adjective

1. characterized by or containing description; serving to describe
2. 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
3. relating to or based upon description or classification rather than explanation or prescription

   descriptive linguistics

Derived Forms

• deˈscriptiveness, noun
• deˈscriptively, adverb

Other Words From

• de·scriptive·ly adverb
• de·scriptive·ness noun
• nonde·scriptive adjective
• nonde·scriptive·ly adverb
• nonde·scriptive·ness noun
• over·de·scriptive adjective
• over·de·scriptive·ly adverb
• over·de·scriptive·ness noun
• self-de·scriptive adjective
• unde·scriptive adjective
• unde·scriptive·ly adverb
• unde·scriptive·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of descriptive¹

1745–55; < Late Latin dēscrīptīvus, equivalent to Latin dēscrīpt ( us ) ( description ) + -īvus -ive

Example Sentences

Like Conway and Wolpert, he put his descriptive name into the titles of his work, not just the body.

From Nautilus

Euclid’s Elements is full of common, descriptive names, even though he was drawing on discoveries made by many different people.

From Nautilus

Every field has terms of art, but when those terms are descriptive, they are easier to memorize.

From Nautilus

By now, descriptive alt texts should be best practice for all content teams.

From Search Engine Watch

A number of them — and I think it’s either misleading or not very descriptive — will call it the “bystander effect,” but that doesn’t tell you whether the bystander effect is to increase or decrease reporting.

From Freakonomics

She avoids an exhaustively descriptive definition because she opposes condemning all novels based on the flaws of some novels.

From The Daily Beast

When you mail it in or bring it back, you include descriptive words that would lead a consumer to your work.

From The Daily Beast

And so we are all supposed to denote something from “working mother” as a descriptive adjective.

From The Daily Beast

The name is descriptive: they are extremely intense bursts of gamma rays, the highest energy form of light.

From The Daily Beast

It was descriptive, prescriptive, and exemplary in its clarity.

From The Daily Beast

His Characters, in imitation of Theophrastus, is a work of established excellence, and descriptive of the manners of that age.

From Project Gutenberg

As Mrs. Armine looked at him she remembered the descriptive phrase that set him apart from all the people of Luxor.

From Project Gutenberg

In one of them, descriptive of antediluvial history, is a painting of Lamech shooting Cain with a bow and arrow.

From Project Gutenberg

These things are beyond my knowledge, which it would perhaps be more descriptive to call ignorance.

From Project Gutenberg

Save incidentally—for he did send descriptive articles to The Daily Gazette—he was not out on professional business.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• definitive
• detailed
• eloquent
• expressive
• identifying
• illuminating
• pictorial
• revealing
• vivid