English Explanatory Dictionary

descriptive

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Of, relating to, or providing a description.
  2. Of an adjective, stating an attribute of the associated noun (as heavy in the heavy dictionary).
  3. Describing the structure, grammar, vocabulary and actual use of a language.
  4. Describing and seeking to classify, as opposed to normative or prescriptive.
noun
  1. An adjective (or other descriptive word)

Pronunciation

/dɪˈskɹɪptɪv/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-descriptive.wav

Word forms

descriptive more descriptive most descriptive descriptives

Etymology

From Latin dēscriptīvus (“containing a full description”).

Antonyms

prescriptive normative non-descriptive

Related words

describe

Derived words

autodescriptive descriptive adjective descriptive ethics descriptive geometry descriptively descriptiveness descriptive statistics descriptivism descriptivist descriptivistic descriptivity indescriptive metadescriptive misdescriptive non-descriptive overdescriptive self-descriptive undescriptive auctorial descriptive
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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