descriptivism

British

/ dɪˈskrɪptɪˌvɪzəm /

noun

ethics the theory that moral utterances have a truth value Compare prescriptivism emotivism

"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

Other Word Forms

descriptivist adjective

Example Sentences

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To students of language, it’s a battle of descriptivism - analyzing and documenting the real-world use of language - versus prescriptivism - the idea that one manner of language use or set of rules is better than another.

From Washington Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023