PRESCRIBE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does prescribe mean? 

• PRESCRIBE (verb)
  The verb PRESCRIBE has 3 senses:

1. issue commands or orders for

2. recommend as beneficial

3. (medicine) order the use of (a treatment, medicine, etc.), usually by written prescription

  Familiarity information: PRESCRIBE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRESCRIBE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they prescribe    ... he / she / it prescribes   
Past simple: prescribed   
Past participle: prescribed   
-ing form: prescribing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Issue commands or orders for

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

dictate; order; prescribe

Hypernyms (to "prescribe" is one way to...):

bring down; impose; inflict; visit (impose something unpleasant)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "prescribe"):

mandate (make mandatory)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

prescription (directions prescribed beforehand; the action of prescribing authoritative rules or directions)

prescriptive (pertaining to giving directives or rules)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Recommend as beneficial

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

my mother prescribes a good night's sleep as the cure for all ills

Hypernyms (to "prescribe" is one way to...):

advocate; recommend; urge (push for something)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

(medicine) order the use of (a treatment, medicine, etc.), usually by written prescription

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

the doctor prescribed steroids for my ear trouble

Hypernyms (to "prescribe" is one way to...):

enjoin; order; say; tell (give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with authority)

Domain category:

medical specialty; medicine (the branches of medical science that deal with nonsurgical techniques)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Your doctor can prescribe them for you.

(Antidepressants, NIH: National Institute of Mental Health)

An indication that a medication schedule was modified by temporarily terminating a prescribed regimen of medication.

(Drug Interrupted, NCI Thesaurus)

Sometimes doctors prescribe corticosteroids or other drugs that reduce your immune response.

(Autoimmune Diseases, NIH)

An indication that a medication schedule was modified through termination of a prescribed regimen of medication.

(Drug Withdrawn, NCI Thesaurus)

If you are at high risk, your doctor might prescribe antibiotics before dental work and certain types of surgery.

(Endocarditis, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

The quantity of micrograms prescribed or delivered in three days.

(Microgram per Three Days, NCI Thesaurus)

Issue associated with setting a variable, register, or other storage location back to a prescribed state.

(Medical Device Reset Issue, Food and Drug Administration)

Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Medications not prescribed by my doctor that I take for pain are.

(BPI - Medications not Prescribed Taken for Pain, NCI Thesaurus)

Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Do you feel you need to take more of the pain medication than your doctor has prescribed?

(BPI - Need more Pain Medication than Prescribed, NCI Thesaurus)

EXAMPLE(S): Blood pressure medication prescribed either before or during a chemotherapy therapeutic trial. tobacco, alcohol.

(Concomitant Agent, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)