Descriptive vs Prescriptive - What's the difference?
descriptive | prescriptive |
Of or relating to description.
(grammar) Of an adjective, stating an attribute of the associated noun (as heavy'' in ''the heavy dictionary ).
(linguistics) Describing the structure, grammar, vocabulary and actual use of a language.
(science, philosophy) Describing and seeking to classify, as opposed to normative or prescriptive.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
, author=John T. Jost
, title=Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?
, volume=100, issue=2, page=162
, magazine=(American Scientist)
Of or pertaining to prescribing or enjoining, especially an action or behavior based on a norm or standard.
*
Descriptive is an antonym of prescriptive.
As adjectives the difference between descriptive and prescriptive
is that descriptive is of, or relating to description while prescriptive is of or pertaining to prescribing or enjoining, especially an action or behavior based on a norm or standard.As a noun descriptive
is (grammar) an adjective (or other descriptive word).descriptive
English
Adjective
(en adjective)citation, passage=He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record.}}
Antonyms
* (science) prescriptive, normative, non-descriptiveDerived terms
* descriptively * descriptiveness * descriptive ethics * descriptive geometry * descriptive statisticsSee also
* (projectlink) * (projectlink) ----prescriptive
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- 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). [...]