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
It’s trying to be descriptive, not prescriptive, and to give a sense of the way life has been lived, whatever way that has been.
He’s reported on music’s legends. Now Peter Guralnick is letting himself slip into the story. | Geoff Edgers | November 29, 2020 | Washington PostWhat’s changed is whether or not we are prescriptive in trying to boil things down to a few numbers.
EmTech Stage: Twitter’s CTO on misinformation | Tate Ryan-Mosley | November 18, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewPublishers are learning to be less prescriptive about what their communities need.
Deep Dive: How the future of publishing is taking shape in the ongoing coronavirus crisis era | Pierre Bienaimé | November 17, 2020 | DigidayThis design is in no way prescriptive of what you should do for your own Forester, other Subaru models, or any other vehicle that you already have.
How to Build Out Your Subaru Forester for $350 or Less | Madeleine LaPlante-Dube | October 15, 2020 | Outside OnlineAdmittedly, I wanted period tracking to be a fix, and to offer me a prescriptive path back to better fitness and strength.
Everything You Need to Know About Period Tracking | Christine Yu | September 6, 2020 | Outside Online
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 HuntNo 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
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