describe
Americanverb (used with object)
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to tell or depict in written or spoken words; give an account of.
He described the accident very carefully.
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to pronounce, as by a designating term, phrase, or the like; label.
There are few people who may be described as geniuses.
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to indicate; be a sign of; denote.
Conceit, in many cases, describes a state of serious emotional insecurity.
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to represent or delineate by a picture or figure.
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Geometry. to draw or trace the outline of.
to describe an arc.
verb
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to give an account or representation of in words
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to pronounce or label
he has been described as a genius
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to draw a line or figure, such as a circle
Related Words
Describe, narrate agree in the idea of giving an account of something. To describe is to convey in words the appearance, nature, attributes, etc., of something. The word often implies vividness of personal observation: to describe a scene, an event. To narrate is to recount the occurrence of something, usually by giving the details of an event or events in the order of their happening. Narrate thus applies only to that which happens over time: to narrate an incident.
Other Word Forms
- describability noun
- describable adjective
- describably adverb
- describer noun
- nondescribable adjective
- overdescribe verb (used with object)
- predescribe verb (used with object)
- redescribe verb (used with object)
- self-described adjective
- undescribable adjective
- undescribableness noun
- undescribably adverb
- undescribed adjective
- well-described adjective
Etymology
Origin of describe
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English describen, from Latin dēscrībere, equivalent to dē- de- + scrībere “to write”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In their latest work, Yunes, Cousins, and their colleagues describe a new way to estimate the Hubble constant by studying black hole collisions that current detectors cannot individually pick up.
From Science Daily
"How they showed up for my dad and have always been there for my dad – there are not enough words in the world to describe our gratitude, there really aren't."
From BBC
When the Pentagon’s Michael describes how Anthropic’s AI is being used, it sounds familiar to anyone using Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT—except running on classified information—as the large organization looks to be more efficient.
Police Scotland described the attacks as "unacceptable" and said those responsible would be caught and "held accountable".
From BBC
This loss, described by manager Parker as "heartbreaking", leaves Burnley eight points from safety.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
