descriptor
Americannoun
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a significant word or phrase used to categorize or describe text or other material, especially when indexing or in an information retrieval system.
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Computers. a data item that stores the attributes of some other datum.
a task descriptor.
Etymology
Origin of descriptor
First recorded in 1930–35, for an earlier sense; describe + -tor, with vowel change and devoicing by analogy with similar Latin derivatives
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.
“Dissociative” is a decent descriptor for Isella’s music, too — disorienting, unnerving, drawing out emotions you might not understand.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 13, 2025
It’s an accurate descriptor considering that Smith, herself, has gone viral for making fancy meals from scratch — even DIY-ing sunscreen — while wearing exuberant fits and a full beat.
From Salon • Nov. 9, 2025
“Incredibly fast,” boasts the descriptor for this month’s Big Cottonwood in Salt Lake City.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 17, 2025
It can be hard to find an appropriate descriptor for Cantrell.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 4, 2025
Later, octave came to mean a choice of twelve notes, not eight, and we got saddled with the wrong descriptor for ever, but I’ll explain that development when it arrives.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions 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.
