Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
No pronunciation record was provided for this word.
noun
The practice of describing realistic forms, as opposed to prescribing idealistic norms, of linguistic usage.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
(linguistics) a doctrine supporting or promoting descriptive linguistics
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: doctrine, philosophy, philosophical system, school of thought, ism
noun
(ethics) a doctrine holding that moral statements have a truth value
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: doctrine, philosophy, philosophical system, school of thought, ism
History
From descriptive + -ism. * Audio (Southern England): (file)
Across languages
20 source translations are retained for this English entry.
