prescriptive
Americanadjective
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that prescribes; giving directions or injunctions.
a prescriptive letter from an anxious father.
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depending on or arising from effective legal prescription, as a right or title established by a long unchallenged tenure.
adjective
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making or giving directions, rules, or injunctions
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sanctioned by long-standing usage or custom
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derived from or based upon legal prescription
a prescriptive title
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of prescriptive
First recorded in 1740–50; prescript + -ive, modeled on descriptive, destructive, etc.
Explanation
Prescriptive things have to do with giving rules or directions. Prescriptive advice tells you what to do. When the doctor writes a prescription, he or she is telling you to get a particular drug and take it. Similarly, anything prescriptive involves telling people what to do. People are prescriptive when they're sure of what’s right. "You have several options" is not prescriptive, but "You should do this" is very prescriptive. A bossy person is very prescriptive.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Prescriptive Data and Disruptive Technologies plan a joint U.S. launch once the Federal Communications Commission grants certification of coin-sized wireless sensors, which install in seconds and immediately transmit data, the companies said.
From Reuters • Jun. 5, 2018
The generation that now owns and runs Rudin Management Co. has launched a company called Prescriptive Data LLC that offers an operating system designed to be a building’s “brain.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 20, 2016
The Rudins have invested more than $5 million in Prescriptive Data so far, entering a market that already offers a host of software and hardware that provide so-called smart-building technology.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 20, 2016
"Prescriptive rules will wind up being behind the curve," said Dudley, who did not comment on the outlook for the economy or monetary policy.
From Reuters • Oct. 15, 2015
Prescriptive rights, on the justice and necessity of.
From Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke by Burke, Edmund
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
