proscribe
verb
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Proscribe vs. Prescribe
Signs, signs, everywhere, signs: some prescribe (“do this”) and others proscribe (“don’t do that”). Don’t take it as a bad sign if you have difficulty telling prescribe and proscribe apart, however; you’ve got plenty of company, and a good excuse. Proscribe and prescribe both come from Latin words that combine a prefix meaning “before” with the verb scribere, meaning “to write.” Yet the two words have very distinct, often nearly opposite meanings, hints of which emerge upon a closer look at their origins. Prescribe comes from praescribere, meaning “to dictate, order”—clear enough for a word used when making rules and giving orders. Proscribe has a more complex history: proscribere means both “to publish” and, more specifically, “to publish the name of someone who is condemned to death and whose property is now forfeited to the state.” This narrower meaning is the one proscribe carried into English when it was first used in the 15th century. By the early 17th century, the word had expanded from merely signaling condemnation to actual condemning or prohibiting.
Examples of proscribe in a Sentence
Nbc News, NBC news, 12 Oct. 2025
The group, which aims to disrupt the operations of weapons manufacturers supplying the Israeli government, was proscribed after two of its activists broke into Britain’s largest air base and damaged two military aircraft.
—Kara Fox, CNN Money, 5 Oct. 2025
In the United Kingdom, the activist group Palestine Action has been proscribed as a terrorist organization due to a handful of members’ actions, and hundreds of peaceful protesters have since been arrested for showing their support of the group.
—Shaad D’souza, Pitchfork, 18 Sep. 2025
The British government controversially proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group on July 5 under the U.K.’s Terrorism Act.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for proscribe
Cite this Entry
“Proscribe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proscribe. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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proscribe
transitive verb
Latin proscribere to publish, proscribe, from pro- before + scribere to write
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