prescriptive

American  

[pri-skrip-tiv] / prɪˈskrɪp tɪv /

adjective

1. that prescribes; giving directions or injunctions.

   a prescriptive letter from an anxious father.

2. depending on or arising from effective legal prescription, as a right or title established by a long unchallenged tenure.

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prescriptive British  

/ prɪˈskrɪptɪv /

adjective

1. making or giving directions, rules, or injunctions

2. sanctioned by long-standing usage or custom

3. derived from or based upon legal prescription

   a prescriptive title

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Other Word Forms

• nonprescriptive adjective
• prescriptively adverb
• prescriptiveness noun

Etymology

Origin of prescriptive

First recorded in 1740–50; prescript + -ive, modeled on descriptive, destructive, etc.

Example Sentences

For Goldhaber, the response to “Pipeline” became instructive for his work becoming less prescriptive.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026

Nor does it offer the prescriptive guidance found in the ever-swelling genre of self-help books peddled by former special operators.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 9, 2026

Coming from another breed of mom, this would be a prelude to prescriptive punishment.

From Salon • Oct. 16, 2025

The new generation of so-called “agentic AI” would be more prescriptive and could automatically turn those insights into actions such as adjusting prices, reordering products, or tailoring marketing messages, said Chen.

From Barron's • Oct. 11, 2025

But as Galton’s hypothesis about “ancestral inheritance” had been dismantled, piece by piece, by Bateson and de Vries, Galton had taken a sharp turn from a descriptive impulse to a prescriptive one.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee