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Webster 1913 Edition


Prescriptive

Pre-scrip′tive

,
Adj.
[L.
praescriptivus
of a demurrer or legal exception.]
1.
(Law)
Consisting in, or acquired by, immemorial or long-continued use and enjoyment;
as, a
prescriptive
right of title
; pleading the continuance and authority of long custom.
The right to be drowsy in protracted toil has become
prescriptive
.
J. M. Mason.

Webster 1828 Edition


Prescriptive

PRESCRIP'TIVE

,
Adj.
Consisting in or acquired by immemorial use and enjoyment; as a prescriptive right or title.
The right to be drowsy in protracted toil, has become prescriptive.
1.
Pleading the continuance and authority of custom.

Definition 2024


prescriptive

prescriptive

English

Adjective

prescriptive (comparative more prescriptive, superlative most prescriptive)

  1. Of or pertaining to prescribing or enjoining, especially an action or behavior based on a norm or standard.
    • 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar, Cambridge: University Press, ISBN 0-521-34750-5, page 8:
      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). [...]

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