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prescribed

American  
[pri-skrahybd] / prɪˈskraɪbd /

adjective

  1. dictated or indicated as a rule or course of action to be followed.

    To limit your definition of art to certain prescribed forms is to cut yourself off from the bulk of human existence.

  2. Medicine/Medical. (of a medicine, treatment, etc.) recommended or ordered by a qualified practitioner.

    Test results for legal or prescribed drugs are returned in about two minutes.

verb

  1. the simple past tense and past participle of prescribe.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of prescribed

prescribe ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. )

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.

Foundayo was prescribed 5,612 times in its third week on the market, according to IQVIA.

From Barron's • May 4, 2026

The FDA initially required mifepristone to be prescribed in person and taken at a doctor’s office.

From Slate • May 4, 2026

That overlap creates a practical problem with no clear answer: how do regulators determine why a medication was prescribed?

From Salon • May 2, 2026

As well as not being warned about side effects by the doctor who prescribed her the drugs for RLS, Sally was also never monitored for the development ofthese side effects.

From BBC • May 1, 2026

The makers of these dictionaries were Prescriptivists: they prescribed correct usage.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

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.