descriptive

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

Also spelled descreeptive

US /dɪˈskrɪptɪv/ UK /dɪˈskɹɪptɪv/ See IPA manual

Freq #44550

Meanings

1

adj
Giving a clear and detailed picture of something in words.

Her descriptive writing made the scene easy to imagine.
2

adj
Describing how something actually is, rather than how it should be.

A descriptive dictionary records how people really use words.

Thesaurus

Opposites

non-descriptivenormative prescriptive

Word family

Derived forms autodescriptivedescriptivelydescriptivenessdescriptivismdescriptivistdescriptivisticdescriptivityindescriptivemetadescriptivemisdescriptivenon-descriptiveoverdescriptive

Related forms describe

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

descriptive adjective
an adjective that describes a quality or characteristic of a noun

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Latin dēscriptīvus (“containing a full description”).

descriptivus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# descriptive

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /dɪˈskrɪptɪv/
**IPA (UK):** /dɪˈskɹɪptɪv/
**Frequency rank:** 44550

## Meanings
1. Giving a clear and detailed picture of something in words.
2. Describing how something actually is, rather than how it should be.

## Examples
- Her descriptive writing made the scene easy to imagine.
- A descriptive dictionary records how people really use words.

## Antonyms
- non-descriptive
- normative
- prescriptive

## Derived Forms
- autodescriptive
- descriptively
- descriptiveness
- descriptivism
- descriptivist
- descriptivistic
- descriptivity
- indescriptive
- metadescriptive
- misdescriptive
- non-descriptive
- overdescriptive

## Related Forms
- describe

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: descriptivus

## Etymology
From Latin dēscriptīvus (“containing a full description”).

## AI Etymology
descriptive comes from Latin dēscriptīvus (“containing a full description”). Current senses include Giving a clear and detailed picture of something in words and Describing how something actually is, rather than how it should be. English relatives and later formations include autodescriptive, descriptively, descriptiveness, describe.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

markdown