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preceptive

preceptive

9.5
To give rules and advice to help people learn
  • adjective
  • /prɪˈsɛptɪv/
  • Formal
translation icon : prescriptivo
  • Many religious texts offer preceptive instructions for leading a moral life.

Examples

  • This also reminds us of the tremendous impetus given to preceptive moralism by mechanized print (Jones, 34).

    Academic text (1990)
  • Hence, the modest proposal of this paper is merely to comment on what Lope himself states in his preceptive work, taking into consideration, of course, the other critics and theoreticians of the Comedia who, in their praise and condemnation of it, continued the process of change and elaboration which at a certain point in time one eventually accepted as the Comedia.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The teacher provided a preceptive guide to help students understand the rules of grammar.

  • In his preceptive lectures, the professor emphasized the importance of ethical behavior.

Synonyms

prescriptive
vspreceptive
5 7.3

Telling people what rules or standards to follow

includes guidance or receiving rules but is less about imposing standards
preceptorial
vspreceptive
  • Specialized
9.6

Relating to teaching led by a tutor

is about guidance or rules given or received rather than only teacher-led

Surface Forms

preceptive positive

Morphology

preceptive = precept (transparent) = precept + ive

Formed by the productive adjective-forming suffix '-ive' on the noun 'precept', so the meaning 'relating to precepts' is directly derivable.

Etymology

Preceptive comes from precept, which breaks into prae- 'before' and capere 'to take', the same root you see in accept. A precept is a rule or instruction you 'take' before you act, so preceptive describes giving or following rules and guidance.