prescription

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English[edit]

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Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

prescription (countable and uncountable, plural prescriptions)

  1. (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,
    The surgeon had written thousands of prescriptions for pain killers without proper examinations before the police raided the clinic.
  2. (medicine) The medicine or treatment provided by such an order.
    • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. [], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, [], published 1842, →OCLC, page 9:
      "Oh, yes; she is the only sort of person for a nurse. She always," cried Lady Anne, with a sneer, "comes to you with a receipt for a pudding in one hand to make you ill, and then a prescription in the other to cure you."
    I need you to pick up gramma's prescriptions on your way home.
  3. (figurative) Any plan of treatment or planned treatment.
    Early to bed and early to rise is a prescription for a long, healthy, and terrible life.
  4. (law) Synonym of enactment, the act of establishing a law, regulation, etc., particularly in writing; an instance of this.
  5. (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.
  6. (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
  7. (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
  8. (obsolete) Synonym of self-restraint, limiting of one's actions especially according to a moral code or social conventions.
    • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 2, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, [], published 1853, →OCLC:
      There is an air of prescription about him which is always agreeable to Sir Leicester; he receives it as a kind of tribute.

Usage notes[edit]

Often misspelled as or confused with proscription, the act of prohibiting something or condemning someone.

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Adjective[edit]

prescription (not comparable)

  1. (of a drug, etc.) only available with a physician or nurse practitioner's written prescription
    Many powerful pain killers are prescription drugs in the U.S.

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Old French prescripcion, borrowed from Latin praescriptiōnem.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

prescription f (plural prescriptions)

  1. prescription (all senses)

Further reading[edit]

Norman[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

prescription f (plural prescriptions)

  1. (Jersey) prescription