descriptive
adjective
de·scrip·tive
di-ˈskrip-tiv 
1
: presenting observations about the characteristics of someone or something : serving to describe
a descriptive account
2
a
: referring to, constituting, or grounded in matters of observation or experience
the descriptive basis of science
b
: factually grounded or informative rather than normative, prescriptive, or emotive
descriptive cultural studies
3
of a modifier
a
: expressing the quality, kind, or condition of what is denoted by the modified term
hot in "hot water" is a descriptive adjective
b
4
linguistics
: of, relating to, or dealing with the structure of a language at a particular time usually with exclusion of historical and comparative data
descriptive linguistics
descriptively
adverb
descriptiveness
noun
Examples of descriptive in a Sentence
She gave a descriptive account of the journey.
a talent for descriptive writing
a poem full of descriptive detail
The black cat was given the descriptive name “Midnight.”
The book is a descriptive grammar.
Recent Examples on the Web
That’s descriptive, certainly, but still doesn’t really tell us what a star is.
—
Phil Plait, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2025
Again, cisgender and cis are not slurs, and the misinformation around the terms is likely due to the broadly anti-trans conservative campaign against basic descriptive language for those outside the majority.
—Quispe López, Them, 18 Mar. 2025
This new method adds to the more qualitative, descriptive criteria many researchers, including our team, use to make mark identifications.
—Briana Pobiner, The Conversation, 11 Apr. 2025
The platform enables non-experts to specify a robot’s operational and structural parameters using simple descriptive input.
—Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 10 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for descriptive
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Phil Plait, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2025
Again, cisgender and cis are not slurs, and the misinformation around the terms is likely due to the broadly anti-trans conservative campaign against basic descriptive language for those outside the majority.
—Quispe López, Them, 18 Mar. 2025
This new method adds to the more qualitative, descriptive criteria many researchers, including our team, use to make mark identifications.
—Briana Pobiner, The Conversation, 11 Apr. 2025
The platform enables non-experts to specify a robot’s operational and structural parameters using simple descriptive input.
—Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 10 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for descriptive
Cite this Entry
“Descriptive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/descriptive. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
descriptive
adjective
de·scrip·tive
di-ˈskrip-tiv
: serving to describe
a descriptive account
a descriptive adjective
descriptively
adverb
descriptiveness
noun
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