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ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Describe

/dɪˈskɹaɪb/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To represent in words..

Definitions by Sense

  1. (transitive) To represent in words.
  2. (transitive) To represent by drawing; to draw a plan of; to delineate; to trace or mark out.
  3. (transitive, mathematics) To give rise to a geometrical structure.
  4. (transitive, taxonomy) To introduce a new taxon to science by explaining its characteristics and particularly how it differs from other taxa.
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To distribute into parts, groups, or classes; to mark off; to class.

Example Sentences

The feeling is difficult to describe, but not unpleasant.
The geographer describes countries and cities.
Several witnesses describe seeing lights in the sky that night.
Between 8 and 9 p.m., the recorder at a meteorological station at Harrow, Middlesex, picked up 1,470 lightning flashes within a radius of 10 to 15 miles, and observers at the station described the storm as "probably one of the most spectacular of the century."
[…]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.
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.
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.
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.

Synonyms for describe

Antonyms for describe

Related Words

Word Forms

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does describe mean?

Describe means (transitive) To represent in words..

What is a synonym for describe?

Common synonyms include portray, betell, depict, report.

What is the opposite of describe?

Possible antonyms include burlesque, caricature, distort, exaggerate.

How do you use describe in a sentence?

The feeling is difficult to describe, but not unpleasant.

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.