prescription

[pri-skrip-shuhn]

noun

1. Medicine/Medical.

   1. a direction, usually written, by the physician to the pharmacist for the preparation and use of a medicine or remedy.

   2. the medicine prescribed.

      Take this prescription three times a day.

2. an act of prescribing.

3. that which is prescribed.

4. Law.

   1. Also called positive prescription. a long or immemorial use of some right with respect to a thing so as to give a right to continue such use.

   2. Also called positive prescription. the process of acquiring rights by uninterrupted assertion of the right over a long period of time.

   3. Also called negative prescription. the loss of rights to legal remedy due to the limitation of time within which an action can be taken.

adjective

1. (of drugs) sold only upon medical prescription; ethical.

prescription

/ prɪˈskrɪpʃən /

noun

1. 1. written instructions from a physician, dentist, etc, to a pharmacist stating the form, dosage strength, etc, of a drug to be issued to a specific patient

   2. the drug or remedy prescribed

2. (modifier) (of drugs) available legally only with a doctor's prescription

3. 1. written instructions from an optician specifying the lenses needed to correct defects of vision

   2. ( as modifier )

      prescription glasses

4. the act of prescribing

5. something that is prescribed

6. a long established custom or a claim based on one

7. law

   1. the uninterrupted possession of property over a stated period of time, after which a right or title is acquired ( positive prescription )

   2. the barring of adverse claims to property, etc, after a specified period of time has elapsed, allowing the possessor to acquire title ( negative prescription )

   3. the right or title acquired in either of these ways

Word History and Origins

Origin of prescription¹

1250–1300; Middle English < Medieval Latin praescrīptiōn- (stem of praescrīptiō ) legal possession (of property), law, order, literally, a writing before, hence, a heading on a document. See prescript, -ion

Word History and Origins

Origin of prescription¹

C14: from legal Latin praescriptiō an order, prescription; see _prescribe

Example Sentences

Often Gail looks like she’s frowning, but it’s just that she has poor vision and is straining to see through her prescription lenses.

From Los Angeles Times

Colorado, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania took steps this week so that people wouldn’t have to get prescriptions to get their COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy.

From Los Angeles Times

That assumed contradiction mirrored Suede’s own sensibility, which resisted tidy prescriptions of what working-class representation should look like.

From Los Angeles Times

The deal does not affect the price the NHS pays, as the service has negotiated its own heavily-discounted rate for those getting the drug on prescription.

From BBC

Zou had also repeatedly searched online for information around the sleeping drug triazolam, which is a banned substance in the UK but available on prescription in China, according to evidence shown at his trial.

From BBC

Related Words

• drug 
• instruction 
• recipe 
• remedy