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prescribe

verbattested in dialogue

  • //pɹɪˈskɹaɪb//
  • //pɹəˈskɹaɪb//
  • //pɝˈskɹaɪb//
  • //ˌpɹiːˈskɹaɪb//

To order (a drug or medical device) for use by a particular patient (under licensed authority).

verb

  1. 1

    To order (a drug or medical device) for use by a particular patient (under licensed authority).

    The doctor prescribed aspirin.

    And most neurologists are in the habit of prescribing antispasticity drugs like tizanidine and baclofen, which are oral and inexpensive, but which cause drowsiness and weaken every muscle in the body, not just the target ones.

  2. 2

    To specify by writing as a required procedure or ritual; to lay down authoritatively as a guide, direction, or rule of action.

    The property meets the criteria prescribed by the regulations.

    Prescribe not us our duties.

    VVhen Parents loves are order'd by a Son, / Let ſtreams preſcribe their fountains vvhere to run.

  3. 3

    To develop or assert a right; to make a claim (by prescription).

    Most probable that one presentation and 40 years possession thereafter, is sufficient to prescribe a right of patronage.

    […] held, in a question with a party who had acquired right from the commissioners of the forfeited estates to the estate of the forfeited superior, as it stood in his person, that the crown charter of the vassal was a valid title on which to prescribe a right to the coal […]

    Because of the juristic difficulties associated with the Donation of Constantine, the question of whether the papacy had in any case prescribed its jurisdiction in the patrimony had become a common topic amongst jurists […]

  4. 4

    To become invalidated or unenforceable by prescription, to lapse

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-i Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i? Proto-Italic *prai Proto-Italic *prai- Latin prae- Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-? Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreybʰ- Proto-Indo-European *(s)kréybʰeti Proto-Italic *skreiβō Latin scrībō Latin praescrībōbor. English prescribe Borrowed from Latin praescrībere, from prae- (“before, in front”) and scrībere (“to write”).

Forms

past tense
prescribed
past participle
prescribed
present participle
prescribing
third person singular
prescribes
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).