[de.scrip.tive] adj (1751) 1: serving to describe "a ~ account"
2. a: referring to, constituting, or grounded in matters of observation or experience "the ~ basis of science" b: factually grounded or informative rather than normative, prescriptive, or emotive "~ cultural studies" 3 of a modifier a: expressing the quality, kind, or condition of what is denoted by the modified term "hot in "hot water" is a ~ adjective" b: nonrestrictive
4: of, relating to, or dealing with the structure of a language at a particular time usu. with exclusion of historical and comparative data "~ linguistics" -- de.scrip.tive.ly adv -- de.scrip.tive.ness n