proscriptive.

Intended to forbid or prevent particular conduct.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• proscriptive rule
• proscriptive policy

On the page

The guidance was proscriptive rather than a list of recommended practices.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Normally non-gradable; no ordinary comparative or superlative. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: uncommon.