prescriptivism

British

/ prɪˈskrɪptɪˌvɪzəm /

noun

ethics the theory that moral utterances have no truth value but prescribe attitudes to others and express the conviction of the speaker Compare descriptivism 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

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.

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

Thevenot said that he has long found the “folk prescriptivism” of competitive Scrabble’s “armchair lexicographers” vexing.

From The New Yorker

The Berlin interpretation, with its mix of high-value and low-value characteristics, is the most comprehensive definition, and even that is attacked for its prescriptivism and its archaism.

From Forbes

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