prescribe
Americanverb (used with object)
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prescribes,
present (3rd person singular)
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prescribed,
past participle, past
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prescribing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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prescribes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
prescribed,
past participle, past
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prescribing
present participle
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Medicine/Medical. to designate remedies, treatment, etc., to be used.
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Law. to claim a right or title by virtue of long use and enjoyment; make a prescriptive claim. (usually followed by for orto ).
verb
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to lay down as a rule or directive
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law to claim or acquire (a right, title, etc) by prescription
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law to make or become invalid or unenforceable by lapse of time
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med to recommend or order the use of (a drug or other remedy)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonprescribernoun
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prescribernoun
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misprescribeverb
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overprescribeverb
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represcribeverb (used with object)
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prescribableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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prescribesimple
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prescribessimple
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have prescribedperfect
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has prescribedperfect
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am prescribingprogressive
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are prescribingprogressive
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is prescribingprogressive
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have been prescribingperfect progressive
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has been prescribingperfect progressive
Past
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prescribedsimple
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had prescribedperfect
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was prescribingprogressive
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were prescribingprogressive
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had been prescribingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of prescribe
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English from Latin praescrībere “to direct in writing,” literally, “to write before or above,” equivalent to prae- pre- + scrībere “to write”; see scribe 1, prescription
Explanation
To prescribe is make orders or give directions for something to be done. These days, the word is mainly used by doctors who prescribe medications to take. Doctors do a lot of prescribing: they prescribe drugs, rest, exercise, and getting rid of bad habits like smoking. When a doctor prescribes something, he or she is saying, "You need to do this. You should do it." That's the most common use of prescribe, but it pops up anywhere someone is advising or ordering someone to do something. All laws and rules prescribe things — they tell you what to do.
Vocabulary lists containing prescribe
Vocabulary from the Constitution of the United States
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"Preamble" and "Bill of Rights," Vocabulary from the U.S. Constitution
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Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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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.
See Examples For:
Doctors often prescribe blood thinners to these patients to reduce the chance of blood clots and stroke.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Morgentaler describes getting calls “all the time”—for instance, from men completely unable to find a physician to prescribe testosterone therapy.
From Slate ● Sep. 13, 2026
Tomlinson said some doctors would be reluctant to prescribe "off licence" medications or relied on colleagues who specialised in women's health to deal with testosterone requests.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
The companies don’t prescribe a particular method for the AI to follow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Rather than prescribe anything to combat the illness that was now wreaking havoc on my system, the doctor told me my body was doing its job and would rid itself of everything on its own.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Like most doctors, he only prescribes brand-name GLP-1s made by Eli Lilly and Novo rather than the compounded, copies versions made by special pharmacies and commonly sold by telehealth companies and med spas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
"I want every person who prescribes the drug to warn women of the possible side effects," she added.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
When he gets sedentary patients, Alter prescribes exercise like a drug.
From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026
The book under discussion is “The New Rules” by Russian-born TikTok influencer Margarita Nazarenko, who prescribes gender roles that Sokol recognizes as distinctly Eastern European.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026
To bring them into balance, Dr. Harlow prescribes two powerful drugs—an "emetic" to make Phineas throw up and a "purgative," a powerful laxative, to evacuate his bowels.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
"Our findings suggest that, if future experiments prove successful, some men, and possibly women too, could be screened and benchmarked for their risk of hair loss before being prescribed GLP-1 medications," said Dr. Petukhova.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
Men prescribed tadalafil were also 33% more likely to begin glaucoma treatment.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
A clinician diagnosed panic attacks and prescribed her Zoloft.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
The doctor diagnosed her with laryngitis, external and prescribed antibiotics.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
An assortment of antipsychotic medicines was prescribed, and he improved gradually—but never enough, apparently, to merit discharge.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Government can use its purchasing and research policies to reward strong security and safety practices without prescribing how a rapidly changing technology must develop.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
While there is a decent amount of data showing that Crohn’s patients can tolerate GLP-1s, Cohen says he’s not yet prescribing them off-label for patients who don’t meet the criteria.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
"I guess it's safe to say that the line between war and peace has been blurred, and that's the new reality that we live with in Europe right now," he said, prescribing his Nordic remedy.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
This information could be incorporated into several types of automated tools that alert clinicians to potentially inappropriate prescribing cascades at the point of care.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
She told me her doctors started prescribing the drugs in 1997 after what she referred to as “the Gold Digger Situation,” which she refused to tell me about.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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.
