describe
to tell or depict in written or spoken words; give an account of: He described the accident very carefully.
to pronounce, as by a designating term, phrase, or the like; label: There are few people who may be described as geniuses.
to indicate; be a sign of; denote: Conceit, in many cases, describes a state of serious emotional insecurity.
to represent or delineate by a picture or figure.
Geometry. to draw or trace the outline of: to describe an arc.
Origin of describe
1synonym study For describe
Other words for describe
Other words from describe
- de·scrib·a·ble, adjective
- de·scrib·a·bil·i·ty, noun
- de·scrib·a·bly, adverb
- de·scrib·er, noun
- non·de·scrib·a·ble, adjective
- o·ver·de·scribe, verb (used with object), o·ver·de·scribed, o·ver·de·scrib·ing.
- pre·de·scribe, verb (used with object), pre·de·scribed, pre·de·scrib·ing.
- re·de·scribe, verb (used with object), re·de·scribed, re·de·scrib·ing.
- self-de·scribed, adjective
- un·de·scrib·a·ble, adjective
- un·de·scrib·a·ble·ness, noun
- un·de·scrib·a·bly, adverb
- un·de·scribed, adjective
- well-de·scribed, adjective
Words Nearby describe
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use describe in a sentence
The man, Joshua Kemp, told what police describe as “a bogus story that quickly fell apart.”
It is not only clerics and Islamic ideologues who use offensive words and images to describe the sexual life of Westerners.
50 Shades of Iran: The Mullahs’ Kinky Fantasies about Sex in the West | IranWire, Shima Sharabi | January 1, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThe latest novel from Samantha Harvey is truly superb, but left its reviewer at a loss for how to describe it.
But throughout all this, Malone describe herself as “oddly responsible,” wanting to help her moms pay the bills as young as 10.
Jena Malone’s Long, Strange Trip From Homelessness to Hollywood Stardom | Marlow Stern | December 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI asked him to describe the U.S. mission that will likely revert back to the embassy it was more than a half century ago.
It was difficult to describe—a little sterner, a little wilder, a faint emphasis of the barbaric peering through it.
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodBut that she could calmly tell him about it, that she could deliberately describe this effect upon her of another man—!
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodWords fail to describe my feelings as I watched the clothes come off him and dry ones go on just as if hands were arranging them.
Uncanny Tales | VariousTo describe the joy, the intense and tumultuous delight of that moment, were beyond the power of words.
It is impossible to describe the thrilling effect produced by this striking ceremony.
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, v. 2(of 2) | Charles Dickens
British Dictionary definitions for describe
/ (dɪˈskraɪb) /
to give an account or representation of in words
to pronounce or label: he has been described as a genius
to draw a line or figure, such as a circle
Origin of describe
1Derived forms of describe
- describable, adjective
- describer, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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