prescriptivism

British

/ prɪˈskrɪptɪˌvɪzəm /

noun

ethics the theory that moral utterances have no truth value but prescribe attitudes to others and express the conviction of the speaker Compare descriptivism emotivism

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This sort of out-of-touch prescriptivism is, after all, the stuff of multi-million dollar celebrity lifestyle brands, from Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop to Kourtney Kardashian's Poosh.

From Salon • Aug. 18, 2021

However, I think you should probably limit the number of family estrangements you initiate over linguistic prescriptivism, even as unpleasant as prescriptivism tends to be.

From Slate • Nov. 22, 2016

The Berlin interpretation, with its mix of high-value and low-value characteristics, is the most comprehensive definition, and even that is attacked for its prescriptivism and its archaism.

From Forbes • Mar. 31, 2014

MIKE: Well, I think you accused him of failing to grasp the central premise of his book, the sort of war between prescriptivism and descriptivism.

From Slate • Sep. 18, 2012

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023