descriptivistadjective
/dɪˈskrɪp.tɪ.vɪst/specializedbelieving that books about language should describe how language is really used, rather than giving rules to follow saying what is correct and not correct:
He condemned the descriptivist view of language as an "Anything Goes" school.
We linguists tend to be descriptivist.
Compare
prescriptivist adjective
descriptivistnoun [ C ]
/dɪˈskrɪp.tɪ.vɪst/specialized language someone who believes that books about language should describe how language is really used, rather than giving rules to follow saying what is correct and not correct:
He was a descriptivist and believed that a dictionary should reflect the actual contemporary state of the language.
Compare
prescriptivist noun