description
American
noun
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a statement or account that describes; representation in words
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the act, process, or technique of describing
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sort, kind, or variety
reptiles of every description
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geometry the act of drawing a line or figure, such as an arc
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philosophy a noun phrase containing a predicate that may replace a name as the subject of a sentence
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of description
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English descripcioun, from Latin dēscrīptiōn-, stem of dēscrīptiō, from dēscrīpt(us) “described” (past participle of dēscrībere “to copy, draw, transcribe”; see describe) + -iō -ion
Explanation
A description puts something in words, like a portrait puts a person in paint. The lawnmower you came home with did not quite fit the description of the dishwasher you went shopping for. The root for description is the Latin word descriptio, meaning “to write down.” The “script” in description tells you that a good description makes what it describes come to life, like a script for a movie. Your description of that fudge almond swirl ice cream was so good I could taste it! Unfortunately, I'm allergic to nuts.
Vocabulary lists containing description
PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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The SAT: Language of the Test, List 4
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The Language of Standardized Tests, List 3
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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.
See Examples For:
Knott said Baines came up with the description of Logan as "Scotland's most exotic garden" and worked hard to promote both the garden and the south-west of Scotland.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
The possible corona description from 709 BCE offers another way to examine those findings.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
This year’s El Niño is expected to be particularly extreme, leading to its informal description by some weather forecasters as “super.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026
His June 1992 Democratic primary victory over Los Angeles school board member Leticia Quezada in California’s 30th Congressional District earned the 34-year-old candidate that description in The Times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
A detached description of his physical features would have made him sound like an ugly, misshapen oaf: pockmarked face, decayed teeth, oversized eye sockets, massive nose, heavy in the hips, gargantuan hands and feet.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
It also relied on participants' self-reported information, including relatively broad descriptions of when they ate.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026
Members of the pool share their material - pictures and descriptions of the president's movements - with the wider media.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
"We are in an exciting era in which faithful predictive quantum descriptions of the full chemical complexity of real materials are coming within reach," says Peng.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
We can’t explain the pain of seeing descriptions of Christa’s injuries on routine government documents, or of every subsequent horror we’ve faced.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
I spent the next few months studying the module and memorizing all of its maps and room descriptions, in anticipation of the day I would finally figure out where it was located.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
