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Glite Dictionary
💊 To order medicine 📜 To set rules 👍 To recommend
to prescribe

to prescribe

57 4.2
State an official rule about what people must do
  • verb
  • /prɪˈskraɪb/
  • Formal
translation icon : prescribir
  • Consequently, it is difficult to prescribe a specific set of activities that will meet all needs.
  • prescribed by law
  • a prescribed procedure
  • follow prescribed procedures

An interaction within very prescribed social categories.

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Examples

  • I am merely requesting that when it comes to my students... ...you conform to the prescribed disciplinary practices.

    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

  • OK, so the correct answer, prescribe Bactrim and repeat the DNAPCI.

  • And let's suppose that we also prescribe the force.

  • Yeah, but would get huge push back to prescribe something to make more healthy muscle.

  • For long standing reasons it is not for us as the UK to prescribe a solution in that dispute.

  • We started prescribing that three years ago.

    The International (2009)

  • So the physician prescribes to the sick what he must do.

  • In many instances, the curriculum is essentially prescribed by what is in the textbooks.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Within each college system, there are prescribed formalized methods for accomplishing tasks and achieving established goals.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The doctor will prescribe a specific medication to help treat your allergies.

Synonyms

to order
vsto prescribe
902 1.3

To tell someone to do something in an official way

sets general guidance for situations rather than telling a person what to do directly
to dictate
vsto prescribe
181 5.0

To give orders that control what other people do

states rules for situations rather than directly controlling people
to mandate
vsto prescribe
  • Formal
169 4.9

To officially require someone to do something

states what should be done rather than giving authority or imposing it
to lay down
vsto prescribe
  • Formal
70 3.9

Officially set a rule or law that people must follow

is used to state what should be done in a specific situation
to decree
vsto prescribe
  • Formal
37 5.3

To order something officially by a government or official

focuses on stating actions to be followed in particular situations
to issue a ukase
vsto prescribe
  • Formal
9.9

To give a strict official order that people must follow

is an authoritative instruction without implying absolute power

Antonyms

to proscribe
  • Formal
8 8.6

To forbid something by law or official rule

How Mandatory

to mandate
  • Formal
169 4.9
to require
∞ 1.1
to prescribe
  • Formal
57 4.2
to recommend
∞ 2.1
to advise
414 2.2

Surface Forms

prescribe infinitive
prescribed past
prescribed past participle
prescribing present participle
prescribes third person singular

Morphology

prescribe = scribe (semi-transparent) = pre + scribe

The authoritative sense derives from 'writing down rules or orders'; the structural relation is clear but the pragmatic extension to authority is not fully transparent.

Etymology

Prescribe comes from the Latin parts pre- 'before' and scribere 'to write', so it once meant to set down rules in writing before something happens. That is why to 'prescribe' can also mean to state officially what should be done, like a law or company rule.