Dictionary

preceptive en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree English precept Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Old French -ifbor. Middle English -yf English -ive English preceptive From precept + -ive.

Meanings

1. Of, pertaining to, or based on precepts
   • If it was necessary, that Christ as our surety should suffer the penalty of the law in our stead, because we have sinned; then it was also necessary that as our Surety, he should yield obedience to the preceptive part of the law also; 1677, John Owen, The Doctrine of Justification by Faith:
2. instructive; didactic
   • It is altogether preceptive, barely containing the rules, without illustration from example. It is a system of rhetoric in the abstract. 1810, John Quincy Adams, Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory:

Forms

Deriveds

preceptively