prescriptive
adjAU, CA, US, UK /pɹɪˈskɹɪptɪv/ · NZ /pɹəˈskɹəptəv/
Etymology From Latin praescriptivus (“relating to a legal exception”), from praescript- (“directed in writing”), from the verb praescribere.
1
Of or pertaining to prescribing or enjoining, especially an action or behavior based on a norm or standard.
- For one thing, spoken language tends to be less subjected to prescriptive pressures than written language, and hence is a less artificial medium of com- munication (written language is often a kind of 'censored' version of spoken language). [...]1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar, Cambridge: University Press, →ISBN, page 8:
- Derived terms
- prescriptive ethics, prescriptive grammar, prescriptively, prescriptiveness, prescriptivism, prescriptivist, prescriptivistic, prescriptivity, unprescriptive
- Related terms
- prescribe, prescription