Prescriptiveness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The nature of exerting control by establishing rigid rules or regulations
2. The disposition to outline explicit guidelines or frameworks that govern actions or thoughts
3. The quality of insisting on firm adherence to specific rules or guidelines

Etymology: "Prescriptiveness" is simply the noun form of "prescriptive" with the suffix "-ness" attached, which turns an adjective into a noun meaning the quality or state of being prescriptive. The adjective itself carries the real history: "prescriptive" comes from the Latin "praescriptivus," built from "praescribere," to write before or to lay down in advance. The Latin verb combined "prae," before, with "scribere," to write, so a prescription was originally something written out beforehand as a binding directive. The "-ness" ending is one of English's oldest and most productive suffixes, inherited from Old English, and it can be attached to nearly any adjective to name a quality. That is why "prescriptiveness" needed no special coinage: once "prescriptive" existed, a noun for its quality followed naturally.

Synonyms: dictation, regulation, imposition

Antonyms: freedom, flexibility