describe
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɪˈskɹaɪb/
ipa: /dəˈskɹaɪb/
ipa: [dɪˈskɹaɪ̯b]
ipa: [dɪˈskɹaɪ̯b]
ipa: [dɪˈskɹɑɪ̯b]
ipa: [dɪˈskɹaɪ̯b]
ipa: [dɪˈskɹəjb]
ipa: [dɪˈskɹɑɪ̯b]
ipa: [dɪˈskɹɑjb]
rhymes: -aɪb
Forms: form: describes
form: describing
form: described
form: described
Etymology: From Middle English descriven, from Old French descrivre, from Latin dēscrībō (“I copy off, transcribe, sketch off, describe in painting or writing”), from dē (“off”) + scrībō (“write”); see scribe and shrive. Displaced native Old English āmearcian.
Senses: examples: text: The feeling is difficult to describe, but not unpleasant.
text: The geographer describes countries and cities.
text: Several witnesses describe seeing lights in the sky that night.
text: […]his lordship was out of humour. That was the way Chollacombe described as knaggy an old gager as ever Charles had had the ill-fortune to serve. Stiff-rumped, that's what he was, always rubbing the rust, or riding grub, like he had been for months past.
ref: 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
text: Yet the truth is that City would probably have been coasting by that point if the referee, Michael Oliver, had not turned down three separate penalties, at least two of which could be accurately described as certainties.
ref: 2014 November 2, Daniel Taylor, “Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United”, in The Guardian:
text: Mae, who describes herself on Patreon as a 20-year-old university student from Canada, holds several world records for Baldur’s Gate 3 speedruns already — including her insane 4:15 any% speedrun.
ref: 2024 January 27, Eliana Bollati, “Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrunner smashes two world records in just two days”, in Dexerto:
text: Among the documents Donald Trump’s would-be-assassin studied while formulating his plans for an attack on the former president was a public document from the Department of Homeland Security, describing different kinds of improvised explosive devices and the number of explosives needed to inflict casualties over certain distances, a senior law enforcement official told CNN.
ref: 2024 August 28, John Miller and Sabrina Shulman, “FBI discovered a DHS document describing improvised explosive devices during investigation of Trump’s would-be assassin”, in CNN:
text: Former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance continue to falsely describe how one of their major policy proposals, across-the-board tariffs, would work.
ref: 2024 September 9, Katie Lobosco, “Fact check: Trump and Vance keep falsely describing how tariffs work”, in CNN:
glosses: To represent in words.
examples: text: to describe a circle by the compasses; a torch waved about the head in such a way as to describe a circle
text: Uncas described an arc in the water with his own blade, and as the canoe passed swiftly on, Chingachgook recovered his paddle, and flourishing it on high, he gave the war-whoop of the Mohicans.
ref: 1826, James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans:
text: His body was contracted and bent towards them, and described an undulatory movement like that of a worm writhing.
ref: 1906, James George Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, volume 2, page 146:
glosses: To represent by drawing; to draw a plan of; to delineate; to trace or mark out.
examples: text: The function describes a very complex surface.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: To give rise to a geometrical structure.
examples: text: The fungus was first described by a botanist.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
taxonomy
glosses: To introduce a new taxon to science by explaining its characteristics and particularly how it differs from other taxa.
examples: text: Passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 18:9:
glosses: To distribute into parts, groups, or classes; to mark off; to class.
Synonyms: sense: to represent in words
word: portray
word: betell
word: depict
word: report
sense: to represent in writing
word: bewrite
word: delineate
word: describe
word: draw
word: chronicle
word: explain
word: narrate
word: recount
word: relate
word: represent
word: set forth
word: state
Hypernyms: word: speak
word: write
Hyponyms: word: recapitulate
word: run over
word: sum up
word: summarize
Derived terms: abovedescribed
aforedescribed
describability
describee
describer
misdescribe
overdescribe
predescribe
redescribe
Related terms: describable
description
descriptive
descriptivism
descriptivist
descriptor
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