Revised as of
24 Sept 2022
It’s not fair. If you look at pre- and pro- as prefixes, you would expect them to come before and be in favor while -scribe is to write. Okay, so writing makes sense and . . .
. . . prescribe actually does work, in that it writes rules, laws, or medical prescriptions in advance. I’d’ve interpreted proscribe as be in favor of writing, except that it means to prohibit, ban, or condemn. Not very positive.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Prescribe | Proscribe |
|---|---|
Pills is courtesy of Marko Javorac under the Creative Commons 2.0 license, via Flickr. — A doctor prescribes medications. |
Finnish Road Sign is courtesy of the Finnish Transport Agency and is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — Tractors and agricultural vehicles are proscribed. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Verb, intransitive & transitive
Third person present verb: prescribes |
Verb, transitive
Third person present verb: proscribes |
| Usually order up a medical prescription
Verb, intransitive: To lay down rules
[Medical] To designate remedies, treatment, etc., to be used [Law] To claim a right or title by virtue of long use and enjoyment
Verb, transitive:
|
Prohibit
Forbid, especially by law
|
| Examples: | |
| Verb, intransitive: I’m prescribing a codeine-based cough syrup. The prescribing proposal builds on the success of the 2011 diabetes nurse prescribing project, extended last year, which enables specialist diabetes nurses to independently prescribe (Nursing Council). A way to acquire an easement on or in real property belonging to another by occupying it continuously for a prescribed period of time. Verb, transitive: The doctor prescribed her a drug called amantadine. Marriage is often prescribed as a universal remedy. Rules prescribing five acts for a play are purely arbitrary. But we were doing things in the prescribed manner! |
Strikes remained proscribed in the armed forces.
The Catholic Church has proscribed certain practices, such as polygyny. For your actions, you have been proscribed. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: nonprescribed, prescribable Noun: nonprescriber, prescriber Verb: misprescribe, misprescribed, misprescribing |
Adjective: proscribable, proscriptive, unproscribable, unproscribed Noun: proscriber, proscribing |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late Middle English in the sense of confine within bounds. It is also a legal term meaning claim by prescription, from the Latin praescribere meaning direct in writing, from prae (before) + scribere (write). | Late Middle English , in the sense of to outlaw, is from the Latin proscribere, from pro- (in front of) + scribere (write). |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Prescribe versus Proscribe
Apple Dictionary.com
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Dangerous and Unsafe by David Brossard was uploaded by GrapedApe and under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license and Mortar is Vincent de Groot‘s own work under the GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0, or CC BY 2.5 license; both are via Wikimedia Commons.
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