description

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Latin descriptio.

Pronunciation

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Noun

description (plural descriptions)

1. A sketch or account of anything in words; a portraiture or representation in language; an enumeration of the essential qualities of a thing or species.
2. The act of describing; a delineation by marks or signs.
3. A set of characteristics by which someone or something can be recognized.
4. (biology) A scientific documentation of a specimen intended to reveal a new species by technically explaining its characteristics and particularly how it differs from other species.

   The type description of the fungus was written by a botanist.

Synonyms

• (characteristics): sort, kind, type, variety

Translations

account in words

Arabic: وصف (ar) (waṣf) m. Bulgarian: описание (bg) n. Catalan: descripció (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 描寫 (zh), 描写 (zh) (miáoxiě), 描述 (zh) (miáoshù) Czech: popis (cs) m. Danish: beskrivelse (da) Dutch: beschrijving (nl) f. Esperanto: priskribo (eo) Estonian: kirjeldus (1), kirjeldamine (2) Finnish: kuvaus (fi), selitys (fi) French: description (fr) f. German: Beschreibung (de) f. Greek: περιγραφή (el) f. Hebrew: תיאור (he) (ti'ur) m. Hungarian: leírás (hu)

Indonesian: deskripsi (id) Italian: descrizione (it) f. Japanese: 記述 (ja) (きじゅつ, kijutsu), 説明 (ja) (せつめい, setsumei), 描写 (ja) (びょうしゃ, byōsha) Korean: 묘사 (ko) (myosa) Lithuanian: aprašymas (1), apibūdinimas (2) Lojban: ve skicu Persian: توصیف (fa) Portuguese: descrição (pt) f. Romanian: descripție (ro) Russian: описание (ru) (opisánije) n. Scots: descreeption Scottish Gaelic: tuairisgeul (gd) m. Spanish: descripción (es) f. Swedish: beskrivning (sv) c. Telugu: వర్ణన (varNana) Turkish: tanım (tr), tavsif (tr)

characteristics

Bulgarian: описание (bg) n. French: signalement (fr) Hungarian: leírás (hu), személyleírás (hu) Scottish Gaelic: tuairisgeul (gd) m.

Spanish: señalamiento (es) Swedish: signalement (sv) Turkish: vasif (tr)

See also

• synopsis
• interpretation

Related terms

• describe
• descriptive

External links

• description in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• description in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• discerption, predictions