Prescribe vs Impose - What's the difference?
prescribe | impose | Synonyms |
To order (a drug or medical device) for use by a particular patient.
To specify as a required procedure or ritual; to lay down authoritatively as a guide, direction, or rule of action.
* Shakespeare
* Dryden
To establish or apply by authority.
* Milton
* 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/nyregion/new-jersey-continues-to-cope-with-hurricane-sandy.html?hp]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):
to be an inconvenience
to enforce: compel to behave in a certain way
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=December 10
, author=Arindam Rej
, title=Norwich 4 - 2 Newcastle
, work=BBC Sport
To practice a trick or deception.
To lay on, as the hands, in the religious rites of confirmation and ordination.
To arrange in proper order on a table of stone or metal and lock up in a chase for printing; said of columns or pages of type, forms, etc.
As verbs the difference between prescribe and impose
is that prescribe is to order (a drug or medical device) for use by a particular patient while impose is to establish or apply by authority.prescribe
English
Alternative forms
* (archaic)Usage notes
* The pronunciation with the stressed first syllable is normally used only when added distinction from (proscribe) is required.Verb
(prescrib)- The doctor prescribed aspirin.
- Prescribe not us our duties.
- Let streams prescribe their fountains where to run.
See also
* proscribe English transitive verbs ----impose
English
Verb
(impos)- Death is the penalty imposed .
- Congress imposed new tariffs.
- Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.
- I don't wish to impose upon you.
- Social relations impose courtesy
citation, page= , passage=Norwich soon began imposing themselves on that patched-up defence with Holt having their best early chance, only to see it blocked by Simpson.}}
