DESCRIPTIVE

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to an approach to linguistic analysis that aims at the description of a language's forms, structures and usage

Example:

descriptive grammar

Classified under:

Adjectives

Domain category:

linguistics (the scientific study of language)

Antonym:

prescriptive (pertaining to giving directives or rules)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Serving to describe or inform or characterized by description

Example:

a descriptive passage

Classified under:

Adjectives

Antonym:

undescriptive (not successful in describing)

Derivation:

describe (to give an account or representation of in words)

Credits

Context examples:

"Don't you think the Central Lake would be more descriptive?" remarked Summerlee.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So I told him I would simply write an account of our visit, just as if I were doing a descriptive special article for The Daily Telegraph.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Descriptive study of cultures and societies.

(Ethnography, NCI Thesaurus)

You have given the name such reality of sweetness, that nothing else can now be descriptive of you.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

This instrument is a descriptive system consisting of 5 dimensions: mobility, self-care, usual activity, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression.

(European Quality of Life Five Dimension Five Level Scale Questionnaire, NCI Thesaurus)

Opinion of respected authorities based on clinical experience, descriptive studies, or reports of expert committees.

(Level of Evidence V, NCI Thesaurus)

A descriptive adjective assigned to the computed amount of blood ejected during a ventricular contraction of the heart.

(Ejection Fraction, Qualitative, NCI Thesaurus)

A descriptive or analytic study of risk factors or disease determinants in populations.

(Field Survey, NCI Thesaurus)

A descriptive adjective assigned to the quantitative measurement of the left cardiac atrium.

(Left Atrium Size, Qualitative, NCI Thesaurus)

A descriptive or distinctive appellation, especially one belonging to a person by right of rank, office, attainment, etc.