# prescribe

Pronunciation: US say "pri-SKRYB" /pɹɪˈskɹaɪb/; UK

## Verb

1. To order a drug or medical device for a particular patient, acting under licensed medical authority.
   - Simple: To tell a sick person which medicine to take and how much, the way a doctor does.
   - _Her physician prescribed a low-dose statin to manage her cholesterol._
   - _Only licensed practitioners may prescribe controlled substances._
2. To lay down authoritatively as a rule, direction, or required procedure; to specify in writing what must be done.
   - Simple: To say clearly and with authority what someone must do or follow.
   - _The constitution prescribes the procedure for amending its own articles._
   - _Safety regulations prescribe the exact protective gear workers must wear._
3. To develop or assert a legal right by making a claim founded on long, uninterrupted use, a process known as prescription.
   - Simple: To gain a legal right to something by using it openly for a long time.
   - _The landowner sought to prescribe an easement after decades of unchallenged access._
   - _Tenants may prescribe certain rights when they occupy property openly for the statutory period._
4. Of a right, claim, or debt, to become invalid or unenforceable because the legal time limit has run out.
   - Simple: Of a legal claim or debt, to stop being valid because too much time has passed.
   - _Under the civil code, the claim prescribed before the plaintiff could file suit._
   - _Old debts may prescribe once the statutory period expires._

## Origin

Borrowed from Latin praescribere, a combination of prae- ("before, in front") and scribere ("to write").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/prescribe (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).