VocabAhead

Prescribe vs Proscribe

Prescribeverb

issue commands or orders for

Full entry for Prescribe

The difference

Near-opposites. To prescribe is to recommend or lay down as a rule. To proscribe is to forbid. The doctor prescribed rest; the law proscribes the practice.

How to keep them apart

Proscribe sounds positive and means the opposite — this is the pair most often reversed under time pressure.

Other pairs worth knowing

All confused pairs · SAT list · GRE list · Full word list