də̇ˈskrīb, dēˈ- transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Latin describere, from de- + scribere to write — more at scribe
1. : to represent by words written or spoken for the knowledge or understanding of others:
a. : to communicate verbally from the results of personal observation an account of salient identifying features of (something existing in space)
unable to find words to describe the mountain scene
in 1886 a Boston surgeon … described the condition now called appendicitis — Morris Fishbein
specifically : to observe and narrate simultaneously with the action (as for radio or television)
describing a football game to an unseeing audience
b. : to transmit a mental image, an impression, or an understanding of the nature and characteristics of (something immaterial) : present distinctly by means of properties and qualities
the unique character of the artistic quality of a work … cannot be defined or even described — T.M.Greene
there were so many things he wanted to describe — James Joyce
like Mark Twain he exhibits rather than describes his characters: their speech is a portrait — Marvin Lowenthal
c. : to make clear by expounding especially in a minute way
had traveled in the principal countries of the world and described what it was like to live in a police state — Victor Boesen
describe the life of the past from the various scraps of the fossil forms — W.E.Swinton
d. : to distinguish by a definitive label or other designation or by an individualizing phrase or similitude — used with as and a complement
few doctors would describe themselves as scientists
the State is often rightly described as a machine: its total effect is inhuman — Herbert Read
e. : to convey an image or notion of : express , signify , denote
we have indicated that jealousy describes a state of tension among various interests of the personality — Abram Kardiner
while the natural sciences grow more modest in admitting that their laws describe only probabilities — Reinhold Niebuhr
2. obsolete : to write down : inscribe , transcribe
3. : to represent by a drawing, figure, model, or picture : portray , delineate
and when the curves thus brilliantly drawn describe vividly some object in life toward which we have pleasing associations we get a complex pleasure — Roger Fry
4. : to mark out : trace or traverse the outline of
each planet describes an ellipse with the sun in one focus — S.F.Mason
while he described a big smooth arc with the muleta — Barnaby Conrad
butted amidships he described a somersault backward
5. obsolete : to portion out : distribute
ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts — Josh 18:6 (Authorized Version)
6. archaic : to discover by observation : espy , perceive
Synonyms: see relate