From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishprescribepre‧scribe /prɪˈskraɪb/ ●●○ verb [transitive] 1 MDto say what medicine or treatment a sick person should have → prescriptionprescribe somebody something If these don’t work I may have to prescribe you something stronger.prescribe something for something the drugs prescribed for his stomach pains2 TELL/ORDER somebody TO DO something formal to state officially what should be done in a particular situation What punishment does the law prescribe for this crime?→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
prescribe• Four years is the minimum jail sentence that federal law prescribes.• What it does not do, of course, is to prescribe an appropriate style of professional practice.• Agreement developed that diagnosis should not result in mere labeling but should be used to prescribe appropriate treatment.• The clinic responded with two more alarm clocks before prescribing drugs.• The same applied if antibiotics were prescribed, or a referral to a specialty, usually orthopaedics, was required.• Therefore, I initiate disulfiram treatment by prescribing the drug for the patient to self-administer.• It may prescribe the manner of their exercise, but it can not subvert the rights themselves...• But some doctors have a history of abusing that trust for profit, prescribing unnecessary and ineffective diet regimes to all comers.• We will introduce powers for nurses to prescribe where appropriate.Origin prescribe (1400-1500) Latin praescribere “to write at the beginning, order” 