Definition of descriptive
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
: nonrestrictive
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
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descriptively
adverb
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