Word of the Day: PROSCRIBE

Thou shalt not...

proscribe (verb) - to forbid, denounce, or condemn, often officially [proh-skrahyb]

BREAKDOWN: PRO- (before) + SCRIB- (write)

• proscription is the act of officially banning something or the state of being banned

• [COMMONLY CONFUSED] to prescribe is to order or direct; to authorize or advise a medicine or treatment, as in a prescription

“When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional right to free speech, it acts lawlessly; and the citizen can take matters into his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all.” —William O. Douglas