Meaning & use
normative
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relating to an ideal standard or norm, or establishing what should be the case rather than describing what is.
See it in a sentence
The debate shifted from what people actually do to normative questions about what they ought to do.
Normative rules in the workplace shape employees' sense of appropriate behavior.
A note on using this word
Frequently contrasted with 'descriptive,' which concerns how things actually are rather than how they should be.
Words with a similar meaning
prescriptive
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
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