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descriptive

/dɪsˈkrɪpɾɪv/
/dɪˈskrɪptɪv/
IPA guide

Descriptive language is vivid and specific, and helps someone imagine a scene he didn't witness. You probably hope that your friend who works at the morgue isn't too descriptive when you ask him how his day was.

The word descriptive comes from the Latin descript-, meaning "written down." Something that is descriptive uses an account of words to give us a sense of what it's like. We usually use descriptive when people are very effective at conveying something. James Agee is an author who excels at descriptive writing, spending pages and pages beautifully describing the scene of a poor cabin in the moonlight.

Definitions of descriptive
  1. adjective
    serving to describe or inform or characterized by description
    “the descriptive variable”
    “a descriptive passage”
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    undescriptive
    not successful in describing
  2. adjective
    describing the structure of a language
    descriptive grammar”
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    prescriptive
    pertaining to giving directives or rules
Pronunciation
US
/dɪsˈkrɪpɾɪv/
UK
/dɪˈskrɪptɪv/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘descriptive'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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