description

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French description, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin dēscrīptiō, noun of action of dēscrībō (“I describe”).

Pronunciation

• 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

Related terms

• describe
• descriptive

Translations

account in words

• Arabic: وَصْف m (waṣf)
• Armenian: նկարագրություն (hy) (nkaragrutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: təsvir (az)
• Belarusian: апіса́нне n (apisánnje)
• Bulgarian: описа́ние (bg) n (opisánie)
• Burmese: ဖေါ်ပြချက် (hpau-pra.hkyak)
• Catalan: descripció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 描寫／描写 (zh) (miáoxiě), 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 (baändau), сипаттау (sipattau)
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: ການພັນລະນາ (kān phan la nā)
• Latvian: attēlojums m, apraksts 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)

characteristics

• Bulgarian: описа́ние (bg) n (opisánie)
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Scottish Gaelic: tuairisgeul m
• Spanish: señalamiento
• Swedish: signalement (sv)
• Turkish: vasif

See also

• prescription
• descriptivism

Further reading

• “description”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “description”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

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 [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Old French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin dēscriptiō.

Noun

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

1. description

Related terms

• descrivre