Word of the Day

: February 25, 2010

proscribe

verb proh-SCRYBE

What It Means

1 : outlaw

2 : to condemn or forbid as harmful or unlawful

proscribe in Context

When grammarians began to proscribe ending a sentence with a preposition in the 1700s, one astute personage noted that it is "an idiom which our language is strongly inclined to."

Did You Know?

"Proscribe" and "prescribe" each have a Latin-derived prefix that means "before" attached to the verb "scribe" (from "scribere," meaning "to write"). Yet the two words have very distinct, often nearly opposite meanings. Why? In a way, you could say it's the law. In the 15th and 16th centuries both words had legal implications. To "proscribe" was to publish the name of a person who had been condemned, outlawed, or banished. To "prescribe" meant "to lay down a rule," including legal rules or orders.