descriptive vs illustrative

descriptive

adj
  • Describing and seeking to classify, as opposed to normative or prescriptive. 

  • Of, relating to, or providing a description. 

  • Of an adjective, stating an attribute of the associated noun (as heavy in the heavy dictionary). 

  • Describing the structure, grammar, vocabulary and actual use of a language. 

noun
  • An adjective (or other descriptive word) 

illustrative

adj
  • Demonstrative, exemplative, showing an example or demonstrating. 

How often have the words descriptive and illustrative occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )