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descriptive Definition

de·scrip·tive (di skrip′tiv)

adjective

describing; of or characterized by description; specif.,

  1. designating or of a branch of a science in which its data or materials are described and classified descriptive anatomy
  2. Gram. designating an adjective that indicates a quality or condition of the person or thing named by the word it modifies “big” in “big barn” is a descriptive adjective

descriptive Related Forms

de·scrip′·tively adverb de·scrip′·tive·ness noun

descriptive Synonyms

descriptive

modif.

designating, identifying, definitive, graphic, describing, narrative, expository, interpretive, anecdotal, characterizing, illuminating, illuminative, expressive, clear, true to life, illustrative, lifelike, vivid, portraitive, picturesque, circumstantial, eloquent, detailed, pictorial, photographic, classificatory, representative, indicative, revealing; see also characteristic, explanatory, graphic 1, 2.

Antonyms vague*, analytical*, expository.

descriptive Usage Examples

Adjective complement with noun phrase

make: These things combined make this book chillingly descriptive on every topic included in the book.

Modifies a noun

  • statistic: What descriptive statistics you report depends on the nature of your data.
  • ddd: Out a placebo shows descriptive ddd of the number out-of-pocket costs for.
  • metadata: Further searching for works published under a specific Creative Commons license should be enabled through the development of descriptive metadata on the copyright status.
  • epidemiology: Descriptive epidemiology of scrapie in Great Britain: results of a postal survey.
  • caption: They should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals with a descriptive caption.
  • gazetteer: You may be able to find further references to Fife in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Used with adjective complement

use: Use more descriptive, specific words as opposed to general ones.

Modifying Another Word

  • purely: No offense meant by noting the age, it was purely descriptive!
  • wonderfully: All wonderfully descriptive word pictures with many regional variations.
  • richly: Here is the most accurate and richly descriptive picture of American English ever offered in any dictionary.
  • overly: The dialog does occasionally fall into the trap of being overly descriptive with the worst offender being during Gary Russell's cameo appearance.
  • merely: The first is merely descriptive, maybe in great depth.
  • essentially: These are essentially descriptive answers to questions like [ 10 ] : " Who will use this system?

Preposition: in

nature: All of these are interesting, but the earlier papers were completed at a time when most of the literature was descriptive in nature.

Preposition: of

  • content: Lay out should be informative and descriptive of the actual content seen by the surfer when they arrive on the destination page.
  • good: Another question would be whether the extent to which the mark was descriptive of the goods or their essential characteristics.
  • type: The name is not descriptive of the type of stone or location.
  • reality: So readers should not feel limited by the Chapter 4 list; it is not exhaustive but only descriptive of present reality.
  • life: The operetta is descriptive of the life and scenes of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest.