descriptive — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or providing a description.

2. Of an adjective, stating an attribute of the associated noun (as heavy in the heavy dictionary).

3. Describing the structure, grammar, vocabulary and actual use of a language.

4. Describing and seeking to classify, as opposed to normative or prescriptive.

   Antonyms

   normativenon-descriptiveprescriptive

   Examples

   He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record.

Noun

1. An adjective (or other descriptive word).

Adjective

1. serving to describe or inform or characterized by description

   Antonyms

   undescriptive

   Examples

   the descriptive variable

   a descriptive passage

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

   Antonyms

   prescriptive

   Examples

   descriptive grammar