noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The practice of prescribing idealistic norms, as opposed to describing realistic forms, of linguistic usage. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   (linguistics) a doctrine supporting or promoting prescriptive linguistics wordnet
3. 3
   (ethics) a doctrine holding that moral statements prescribe appropriate attitudes and behavior wordnet

Antonyms

All antonyms

descriptivism

Example

More examples

"Linguistic prescriptivism is unscientific, and is criticized as such by those who are actual linguists."

Etymology

From prescriptive + -ism.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.