prescription

English Online Dictionary. What means prescription‎? What does prescription mean?

English

Alternative forms

• præscription (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French, from Old French prescripcion, from Latin praescriptio (“preface; pretext; something written ahead of time”), from prae- (“pre-, before”) + scribere (“to write”) + -tio (“-tion, forming nouns”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈskɹɪpʃən/, (proscribed) /pɝˈskɹɪpʃən/

Noun

prescription (countable and uncountable, plural prescriptions)

2. (medicine, pharmacy, pharmacology) A written order from an authorized medical practitioner for provision of a medicine or other treatment, such as (ophthalmology) the specific lenses needed for a pair of glasses.

   Synonyms: scrip, forescript, Rx, ℞

4. (medicine) The medicine or treatment provided by such an order.
6. (figurative) Any plan of treatment or handling; the treatment or handling thus provided.
8. (law) Synonym of enactment, the act of establishing a law, regulation, etc., particularly in writing; an instance of this.
10. (linguistics) The act of establishing or formalizing ideal norms for language use, as opposed to describing the actual norms of such use; an instance of this.
12. (law) An established time period within which a right must be exercised and after which it is null and permanently unenforceable.

    Synonyms: extinctive prescription, liberative prescription

14. (law) An established time period after which a person who has uninterruptedly, peacefully, and publicly used another's property acquires full ownership of it.

    Synonyms: acquisitive prescription, usucaption

16. (obsolete) Synonym of self-restraint, limiting of one's actions especially according to a moral code or social conventions.

Usage notes

Often misspelled as or confused with proscription, the act of prohibiting something or condemning someone; in the linguistic sense, proscription is hyponymous to prescription.

Derived terms

Related terms

• prescribe

Translations

Adjective

prescription (not comparable)

1. only available with a physician or nurse practitioner's written prescription (of a drug, etc.)

Translations

See also

• prescriptivism

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French prescripcion, itself borrowed from Latin praescrīptiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɛs.kʁip.sjɔ̃/

Noun

prescription f (plural prescriptions)

1. (medicine) prescription (written order from an authorized medical practitioner for provision of a medicine or other treatment, such as (ophthalmology) the specific lenses needed for a pair of glasses)
2. (law, sometimes figuratively) abandon of legal action by virtue of a statute of limitations; principle by which a person can no longer be prosecuted for a crime when a certain amount of time has elapsed

   Il y a prescription. ― Let bygones be bygones.

3. (linguistics) prescription (act of establishing or formalizing ideal norms for language use, as opposed to describing the actual norms of such use)

   Coordinate term: description

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with proscription.

Related terms

• prescriptif
• imprescriptible

Further reading

• “prescription”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norman

Etymology

From Old French prescripcion, borrowed from Latin praescriptio, praescriptionem.

Noun

prescription f (plural prescriptions)

1. (Jersey) prescription