describe

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I recognise the quality which he intended to describe, which is, I think, the peculiar possession of English women of a certain class; but I should not call it insolence Another party fluttered past us, a man and a woman There," said Ascher, "is a French woman.

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Definitions (18)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. transitive verb To give an account of in speech or writing.
  2. transitive verb To convey an idea or impression of; characterize: She described her childhood as a time of wonder and discovery.
  3. transitive verb To represent pictorially; depict: Goya's etchings describe the horrors of war in grotesque detail.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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This word has been looked up 321 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

xe ·  ley ·  under-mentioned ·  isola ·  portrait-painting ·  tweetwheel ·  maestra ·  geri ·  nighthawk ·  originis ·  askest ·  22-24

Used in the same contextWord Family

describe:   describing ·  described ·  describes
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English describen, from Latin dēscrībere, to write down : dē-, de- + scrībere, to write; see skrībh- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Earlier descrive (the form describe being a reversion to the L. form), from Middle English descriven, descreven (see descrive), from Old French descrivre, contr. descrire, French décrire = Provencal descriure = Spanish describir = Portuguese descrever = Italian descrivere, from Latin describere, copy off, transcribe, sketch off, describe in painting or writing, from de, off, + scribere, write: see scribe and shrive.
 

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/dɛsˈkraɪb/
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