prescriptive
Americanadjective
-
that prescribes; giving directions or injunctions.
a prescriptive letter from an anxious father.
-
depending on or arising from effective legal prescription, as a right or title established by a long unchallenged tenure.
adjective
-
making or giving directions, rules, or injunctions
-
sanctioned by long-standing usage or custom
-
derived from or based upon legal prescription
a prescriptive title
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
In its place: a more prescriptive framework that explicitly warns against the health risk of ultra-processed foods, and calls for Americans to eat more protein, embrace saturated fat, and cut back on carbohydrates.
From Barron's • Jan. 7, 2026
“We’re trying to find ways to do therapy so that it doesn’t feel as prescriptive, and that they don’t feel like they’re being told how to recover.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2025
Coming from another breed of mom, this would be a prelude to prescriptive punishment.
From Salon • Oct. 16, 2025
Once you understand that prescriptive rules are the conventions of a specialized form of the language, most of the iptivist controversies evaporate.
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.