rep ‧ re ‧ sent S2 W1 /ˌreprɪˈzent/ BrE AmE verb
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ representation , ↑ representative ; adjective : ↑ representative ≠ ↑ unrepresentative , ↑ representational ; verb : ↑ represent ]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: representer , from Latin repraesentare , from praesentare ; ⇨ ↑ present 2 ]
1 . SPEAK FOR SOMEBODY [transitive] to officially speak or take action for another person or group of people:
Mr Kobayashi was chosen to represent the company at the conference.
2 . IN COURT [transitive] to speak officially for someone in a court of law
represent yourself
She decided to represent herself (=speak for herself without a lawyer) during the trial.
3 . BE SOMETHING [linking verb] to form or be something ⇨ amount to :
European orders represented 30 percent of our sales last year.
represent a change/an advance/an increase etc
This treatment represents a significant advance in the field of cancer research.
4 . GOVERNMENT [transitive] to have been elected to a parliament, council etc by the people in a particular area:
He represents the Congressional District of Illinois.
5 . SIGN [transitive] to be a sign or mark that means something SYN stand for :
Brown areas represent deserts on the map.
6 . SYMBOL [transitive] to be a symbol of something SYN symbolize :
He hated the school and everything it represented.
7 . SPORTS [transitive] if you represent your country, school, town etc in a sport, you take part in a sports event for that country etc:
Her greatest ambition was to represent her country at the Olympics.
8 . be represented if a group, organization, area etc is represented at an event, people from it are at the event:
All the local clubs were represented in the parade.
9 . DESCRIBE [transitive] to describe someone or something in a particular way, especially in a way that is not true SYN portray ⇨ depict
represent somebody/something as something
The article represents the millionaire as a simple family man.
He had represented himself as an employee in order to gain access to the files.
10 . ART [transitive] if a painting, ↑ statue , piece of music etc represents something or someone, it shows them:
Paintings representing religious themes were common in medieval times.
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THESAURUS
▪ describe to talk or write about a person, place, event etc, in order to show what they are like:
Could you try and describe the man you saw?
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In her book, she describes her journey across the Sahara.
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Police described the attack as particularly violent.
▪ tell somebody about somebody/something to describe someone or something to someone. This phrase is more commonly used than describe in everyday spoken English:
So, tell me about your holiday!
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My friends have told me all about you!
▪ depict formal to describe someone or something in a piece of writing:
His stories depict life in Trinidad as seen through the eyes of a young boy.
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In this new biography she is depicted as a lonely and unhappy woman.
▪ portray/represent formal to describe someone or something in a particular way:
College teachers are often represented on television shows as slightly eccentric.
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The magazine has been criticized for the way it portrays women.
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The treatment has been portrayed as a painless way of curing cancer, which is simply not true.
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Police have represented her as a willing participant in the crimes.
▪ characterize somebody/something as something formal to describe someone or something by emphasizing one particular quality or feature about them:
He characterized himself as ‘an average American’.
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The successful schools were characterized as innovative and creative.
▪ paint somebody/something as something to describe someone or something, especially in a way that makes people believe something that is not true:
Not all young people are as bad as they’re painted in the press.
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We won, yet the media is painting it as a victory for our opponents.
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The woman was painted as having only a slight grasp of reality.
▪ paint a picture to describe a situation, so that people can get a general idea of what it is like:
Can you paint a picture of life in Japan for us?
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My uncle’s letters generally painted a rosy picture of how things were.
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The report painted a bleak picture of the management’s failures.