different between direction vs prescription

English

Etymology

From Middle English direccioun, from Old French direccion, from Latin d?r?cti?. Equivalent to direct +? -ion

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /d(a)????k.??n/
• Rhymes: -?k??n

Noun

direction (countable and uncountable, plural directions)

1. A theoretical line (physically or mentally) followed from a point of origin or towards a destination. May be relative (e.g. up, left, outbound, dorsal), geographical (e.g. north), rotational (e.g. clockwise), or with respect to an object or location (e.g. toward Boston).
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     Just before Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already his intention to walk in this direction.

2. A general trend for future action.
3. Guidance, instruction.

4. The work of the director in cinema or theater; the skill of directing a film, play etc.

5. (dated) The body of persons who guide or manage a matter; the directorate.
6. (archaic) A person's address.
   • 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society 1985, page 218:

     Her aunt Leonella was still at Cordova, and she knew not her direction.

Derived terms

Related terms

• direct

Translations

Anagrams

• cretinoid

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin d?r?cti?, d?r?cti?nem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.??k.sj??/

Noun

direction f (plural directions)

1. (spatial) direction
2. (figuratively) direction
3. government
4. (figuratively) the director of the administration/organisation
5. (occasional, figurative) the territory administered by a government

Derived terms

• direction assistée

Related terms

• directeur
• diriger

Descendants

• ? Turkish: direksiyon

Further reading

• “direction” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Interlingua

Noun

direction (plural directiones)

1. direction (orientation, point where one is headed)
2. direction, leadership, control, supervision

English

Alternative forms

• præscription (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French, from Old French prescripcion, from Latin praescriptio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???sk??p??n/, (proscribed) /p??sk??p??n/

Noun

prescription (countable and uncountable, plural prescriptions)

1. (law)
   1. The act of prescribing a rule, law, etc..
      • "Jurisdiction to prescribe" is a state's authority to make its laws applicable to certain persons or activities. -- Richard G. Alexander, Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996: Congress exceeds its jurisdiction to prescribe law. Washington and Lee Law Review, 1997.
   2. Also called extinctive prescription or liberative prescription. A time period within which a right must be exercised, otherwise it will be extinguished.
   3. Also called acquisitive prescription. A time period after which a person who has, in the role of an owner, uninterruptedly, peacefully, and publicly possessed another's property acquires the property. The described process is known as acquisition by prescription and adverse possession.
2. (medicine, pharmacy, pharmacology) A written order, as by a physician or nurse practitioner, for the administration of a medicine or other intervention. See also scrip.
   • The surgeon wrote a prescription for a pain killer and physical therapy.
3. (medicine) The prescription medicine or intervention so prescribed.
   • The pharmacist gave her a bottle containing her prescription.
4. (ophthalmology) The formal description of the lens geometry needed for spectacles, etc..
   • The optician followed the optometrist's prescription for her new eyeglasses.
5. (linguistics) The act or practice of laying down norms of language usage, as opposed to description, i.e. recording and describing actual usage.
6. (linguistics) An instance of a prescriptive pronouncement.
7. A plan or procedure to obtain a given end result; a recipe.
   • "Early to bed and early to rise" is a prescription for a healthy lifestyle.
8. (obsolete) Circumscription; restraint; limitation.
   • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, ch 2:

     There is an air of prescription about him which is always agreeable to Sir Leicester; he receives it as a kind of tribute. ... It expresses, as it were, the steward of the legal mysteries, the butler of the legal cellar, of the Dedlocks.

Usage notes

• Do not confuse with proscription.

Synonyms

• forescript
• (medicine): ?, Rx
• (a plan or procedure): recipe

Related terms

• prescribe

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

prescription (not comparable)

1. (of a drug, etc.) only available with a physician or nurse practitioner's written prescription

   Many powerful pain killers are prescription drugs in the U.S.

Translations

See also

• prescriptivism

French

Etymology

From Old French prescripcion, borrowed from Latin praescriptio, praescriptionem.

Pronunciation

Noun

prescription f (plural prescriptions)

1. prescription (all senses)

Norman

Etymology

From Old French prescripcion, borrowed from Latin praescriptio, praescriptionem.

Noun

prescription f (plural prescriptions)

1. (Jersey) prescription