| 释义 |
descriptive, a.|dɪˈskrɪptɪv|
[ad. (late) L. dēscriptīv-us containing a description, f. dēscript-, ppl. stem of dēscrībĕre: see -ive. Cf. F. descriptif.]
1. a. Having the quality or function of describing; serving to describe; characterized by description.
1751Johnson Rambler No. 94 ⁋1 The sound of some emphatical and descriptive words. 1820Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 141 They are lyrical and descriptive poets of the first order. 1882A. W. Ward Dickens i. 18 A descriptive power that seemed to lose sight of nothing. Mod. A handbook of Descriptive Anatomy.
b. const. of.
1794Sullivan View Nat. II. 176 Circumstances descriptive of similar connections. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 71 A name sufficiently descriptive of its construction.
2. Math. Of that branch of geometry in which the relations of lines, figures, and solids are studied, esp. in their projections on two planes. (Cf. F. géométrie descriptive, Monge 1794–5.)
1824–5Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. 312/2 A new species of geometry introduced..by Monge, during the period of the revolution, under the designation of descriptive geometry. 1841T. G. Hall Elem. Descr. Geom. 19 The object of Descriptive Geometry is the invention of methods by which we may represent upon a plane..the form and position of a body which possesses three dimensions... The means by which descriptive geometry attains its object is the method of Projections. 1885C. Leudesdorf tr. Cremona's Projective Geom. 50 Projective Geometry..dealing with projective properties..is chiefly concerned with descriptive properties of figures. 1913Blessing & Darling Elem. Descr. Geom. i. 1 The practical value of descriptive geometry lies in the knowledge gained in solving graphical problems which arise in engineering and architecture, and in making and reading working drawings. 1961New Scientist 23 Feb. 489/1 Gaspard Monge—scientist, mathematician, father of descriptive geometry and founder of the first polytechnic school.
3. a. Consisting solely or principally of description; concerned with, or signifying, observable things or qualities, or what is the case rather than what ought to be or might or must be; not expressing feelings or valuations; relating to this type of meaning or interest. (Opp. emotive, prescriptive, evaluative.) Also (rare) as n.
1885W. James in Mind X. 28 Our inquiry is a chapter in descriptive psychology. 1943M. Farber Foundat. Phenomenol. vii. 216 The distinctions [were] a matter of descriptive analysis. 1944C. L. Stevenson Ethics & Lang. ix. 210 In any ‘persuasive definition’ the term defined is a familiar one, whose meaning is both descriptive and strongly emotive. 1948Mind LVII. 482 A special form of the descriptive fallacy—the fallacy of believing that all verbs are used to describe empirically distinguishable activities or states of affairs. 1951Ibid. LX. 443 The traditional discussions of Free Will, confusing descriptive with prescriptive laws. 1952R. M. Hare Lang. of Morals vii. 111 The descriptive properties which a particular strawberry had. 1955J. L. Austin How to do Things (1962) xii. 157 There is also a slide towards ‘descriptives’. 1956A. J. Ayer Probl. Knowl. i. 7 A philosophic statement is not..like..a statement in any of the descriptive sciences..tested by observation. Ibid. ii. 80 There is the method of Descriptive Analysis.
b. Linguistics. Describing the structure of a language at a given time, avoiding comparisons with other languages or other historical phases, and free from social valuations; as in descriptive grammar, descriptive linguistics, etc. (Opp. normative, prescriptive, historical; cf. synchronic a.)
1888H. A. Strong tr. Paul's Princ. Hist. Lang. i. 2 Descriptive Grammar has to register the grammatical forms and grammatical conditions in use at a given date within a certain community speaking a common language. 1927Mod. Philol. Nov. 217 (heading) Descriptive linguistics. Ibid. 218 Today descriptive linguistics is thus recognized beside historical, or rather as precedent to it. 1933Bloomfield Lang. i. 18 Descriptive studies did not merge with the main stream of historical work. 1933Jespersen Ess. Eng. Gram. i. 19 Descriptive grammar..aims at finding out what is actually said and written by the speakers of the language investigated. 1944Amer. Speech XIX. 211 The later directions of linguistic research: dialect geography and descriptive analysis. 1947E. H. Sturtevant Introd. Ling. Sci. vi. 51 Descriptive linguistics forms the basis for historical linguistics. Ibid. 53 Most of our school grammars must be classed as descriptive. 1953J. B. Carroll Study of Lang. ii. 16 Several Greek grammarians, notably Dionysius Thrax, Apollonius Dyscolus, and Herodian, developed descriptive grammars of Greek. Ibid. 19 The European linguist who best formulated the methodology of descriptive linguistics..was Ferdinand de Saussure. 1961H. A. Gleason Introd. Descriptive Linguistics (ed. 2) xiii. 202 A descriptive grammar..is a systematically organized set of statements about the constructional patterns that characterize grammatical statements. 1966J. J. Katz Philos. Lang. ii. 8 The philosopher of language should..draw his linguistic information from the theory of language as developed in descriptive linguistics.
4. Gram. Of a clause: see quot. 1903. Of adjectives, etc.: assigning a quality; not primarily restricting the application of the expression modified. (Opp. limiting.) descriptive adjective: see quot. 1933.
1903Hale & Buck Latin Gram. iv. 260 The Volitive Subjunctive may be used..in Relative Clauses, determinative or descriptive..that is, telling what kind of person or thing is meant. Ibid. 302 A Descriptive Clause is necessarily a free one when it refers immediately to an antecedent complete in itself, e.g. a word denoting a person. 1927E. A. Sonnenschein Soul of Gram. i. 37 Descriptive genitives. 1933Bloomfield Lang. xii. 202 The adjectives are divided into two classes, descriptive and limiting, by the circumstance that when adjectives of both these classes occur in a phrase, the limiting adjective precedes and modifies the group of descriptive adjective plus noun. 1954P. M. Roberts Underst. Gram. ii. 48 A car′penter's hammer (‘a hammer customarily used by carpenters’—descriptive genitive). Ibid. iv. 93 Descriptive adjectives occur in three main sentence positions.
Hence deˈscriptively adv., deˈscriptiveness.
1796Morse Amer. Geog. I 183 The Allegany..has been descriptively called the back bone of the United States. 1834Q. Rev. L. 296 Represented with..lively and attractive descriptiveness. 1870Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. i. 1 The term ‘stood’ descriptively represents their obstinacy. |