descriptor

American  

[dih-skrip-ter] / dɪˈskrɪp tər /

noun

1. a significant word or phrase used to categorize or describe text or other material, especially when indexing or in an information retrieval system.

2. Computers. a data item that stores the attributes of some other datum.

   a task descriptor.

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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

See Examples For:

descriptor

It’s as unambiguous a descriptor as you’ll find and has returned 43% year-to-date—four times as much as the S&P 500.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

Hopkins registered the trademark in 2018 and began contacting authors who had also used the descriptor — and the list was long, because the cocky, arrogant hero is a romance trope.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026

Thomas Jefferson, who owned a mule named “Dr. Slop,” mimicked Sterne’s style in friendly correspondence, and was among the many readers who liked to deploy the descriptor “Shandean.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026

The book is not unnecessarily maudlin but rather sharply present, which is also simply an accurate descriptor for much of Smith’s life and work.

From Salon ● Nov. 11, 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