Description
//dɪˈskɹɪpʃən// noun
noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 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. countable, uncountable
"give a verbal description of the events"
- 2 sort or variety wordnet
- 3 The act of describing; a delineation by marks or signs. countable, uncountable
- 4 a statement that represents something in words wordnet
- 5 A set of characteristics by which someone or something can be recognized. countable, uncountable
"The zoo had no lions, tigers, or cats of any description."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 the act of describing something wordnet
- 7 A scientific documentation of a taxon for the purpose of introducing it to science. countable, uncountable
"The type description of the fungus was written by a botanist."
- 8 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. countable, uncountable
- 9 A descriptive linguistic survey. countable, uncountable
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Have you ever seen Mt. Fuji? It is beautiful beyond description."
Etymology
From Middle English descripcioun, from Old French description and its etymon, Latin dēscrīptiō, noun of action of dēscrībō (“I describe”). Equivalent to describe + -tion.
Related phrases
More for "description"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.