description

English

Etymology

From Old French description, from Latin dēscrīptiō, noun of action of dēscrībō (“I describe”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈskɹɪpʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

description (countable and uncountable, 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.

   The zoo had no lions, tigers, or cats of any description.

4. (taxonomy) A scientific documentation of a taxon for the purpose of introducing it to science.

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

5. (linguistics) The act or practice of recording and describing actual language usage in a given speech community, as opposed to prescription, i.e. laying down norms of language usage.
6. (linguistics) A descriptive linguistic survey.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• audio description
• beggar description
• charge description master
• descriptional
• descriptionally
• descriptionism
• descriptionist
• descriptionistic
• descriptionless
• description logic
• description word
• hardware description language
• job description
• metadescription
• misdescription
• nondescription
• nondescriptional
• redescription
• video description

 

Related terms

• describe
• descriptive

Translations

account in words

• Arabic: وَصْف‎ m (waṣf)
• Armenian: նկարագրություն (hy) (nkaragrutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: təsvir (az)
• Belarusian: апіса́нне n (apisánnje)
• Bengali: বয়ান (bôẏan)
• Bulgarian: описа́ние (bg) n (opisánie)
• Burmese: ဖေါ်ပြချက် (hpau-pra.hkyak)
• 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
• Estonian: (1) ^{(please verify)} kirjeldus, (2) ^{(please verify)} kirjeldamine
• Finnish: kuvaus (fi), selitys (fi)
• French: description (fr) f
• Galician: descrición (gl) f
• Georgian: აღწერა (ka) (aɣc̣era)
• German: Beschreibung (de) f
• Greek: περιγραφή (el) f (perigrafí)

  Ancient: ἔκφρασις f (ékphrasis), περιήγησις f (periḗgēsis)

• Hebrew: תיאור \ תֵּאוּר‎ (he) m (te'ur)
• Hindi: विवरण (hi) m (vivraṇ), वर्णन (hi) m (varṇan), बयान (hi) m (bayān)
• Hungarian: leírás (hu)
• Ido: deskripto (io)
• 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)
• Kazakh: баяндау (bayandaw), сипаттау (sïpattaw)
• Khmer: ពិពណ៌នា (km) (pipɔəniə), ពណ៌នា (km) (pɔənaʼniə), ព្យាករណ៍ (km) (pyiəkɑɑ)
• Korean: 묘사 (ko) (myosa), 기술 (ko) (gisul), 서술 (ko) (seosul), 설명 (ko) (seolmyeong), 기재 (ko) (gijae)
• Kyrgyz: баяндоо (ky) (bayandoo), сыпаттоо (sıpattoo)
• Ladino: deskripsion f

• Lao: ການພັນລະນາ (kān phan la nā)
• Latin: descriptio (la)
• Latvian: apraksts m, attēlojums m
• Lithuanian: (1) aprašymas (lt), (2) apibūdinimas
• Macedonian: опис m (opis)
• Maori: whakaahuatanga
• Meänkieli: kuvvailu
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Moroccan Amazigh: ⴰⴳⵍⴰⵎ m (aglam)
• Occitan: descripcion (oc)
• Persian: توصیف‎ (fa) (tousif)
• Polish: opis (pl) m
• Portuguese: descrição (pt) f
• Romanian: descripție (ro), descriere (ro)
• Russian: описа́ние (ru) n (opisánije)
• Scots: descreeption
• Scottish Gaelic: tuairisgeul m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̀пис m

  Roman: òpis (sh) m

• Slovak: popis m
• Slovene: opis (sl) m
• Spanish: descripción (es) f
• Swedish: beskrivning (sv) c
• Tajik: тавсиф (tavsif), тасвир (tg) (tasvir)
• Telugu: వర్ణన (te) (varṇana)
• Thai: การพรรณนา (th) (gaan-pan-ná-naa)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: tanım (tr), tavsif (tr)
• Ukrainian: о́пис m (ópys)
• Urdu: بیان‎ m (bayān)
• Uzbek: tasvir (uz), tavsif (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự miêu tả (vi), sự mô tả (vi)
• Yiddish: באַשרײַבונג‎ f (bashraybung)

act of describing

• Finnish: kuvailu (fi), kuvaaminen (fi)

set of characteristics

• Bulgarian: описа́ние (bg) n (opisánie)
• Finnish: määritelmä (fi)
• French: signalement (fr)
• Hungarian: leírás (hu), személyleírás (hu)
• Irish: comharthaí m pl, comharthaí aithne m pl, comharthaí sóirt m pl
• Russian: описа́ние (ru) n (opisánije)

• Scottish Gaelic: tuairisgeul m
• Spanish: señalamiento
• Swedish: signalement (sv)
• Turkish: vasif
• Yiddish: באַשרײַבונג‎ f (bashraybung)

taxonomy: scientific documentation of a taxon

• Finnish: kuvaus (fi)

• Japanese: 記載 (ja) (kisai)

linguistics: act or practice of recording and describing actual language usage

• Finnish: kuvailu (fi)

linguistics: descriptive linguistic survey

• Finnish: kuvaileva tutkimus

See also

• prescription
• descriptivism

Further reading

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

See also

• synopsis
• interpretation

Anagrams

• discerption, predictions

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dēscriptiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛs.kʁip.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: descriptions

Noun

description f (plural descriptions)

1. description

Related terms

• décrire
• descriptif

Further reading

• “description” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Old French

Etymology

From Latin dēscriptiō.

Noun

description f (oblique plural descriptions, nominative singular description, nominative plural descriptions)

1. description

Related terms

• descrivre