Prescriptivist

Pronunciation varies by accent · noun

Meaning

(linguistics) Someone who lays down rules regarding language usage, or who believes that traditional norms of language usage should be upheld..

Definitions by Sense

1. (linguistics) Someone who lays down rules regarding language usage, or who believes that traditional norms of language usage should be upheld.
2. Having a tendency to prescribe.

Example Sentences

The plutocratic tone and styptic wit of Safire and Newman and the best of the Prescriptivists is often modeled after the mandarin-Brit personas of Eric Partridge and H. W. Fowler, the same Twin Towers of scholarly Prescriptivism whom Garner talks about revering as a kid.

In short, they tend to present Indian English as nothing more than "standard" English with a select collection of lexical peculiarities tacked on, as it were, many of which would be regarded as "errors" by prescriptivist language scholars.

Synonyms for prescriptivist

Antonyms for prescriptivist

Related Words

Word Forms

• prescriptivists
• more prescriptivist
• most prescriptivist

Usage Notes

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