describe

Syllables: de·scribe/dɪˈskɹaɪb/UK[dɪˈskɹaɪ̯b]

describe verb: to represent in words.

Verb

describe (third-person singular simple present describes, present participle describing, simple past and past participle described)

(transitive) To represent in words.
- The feeling is difficult to describe, but not unpleasant.
- The geographer describes countries and cities.
Synonyms:

portray, bewrite
(transitive) To represent by drawing; to draw a plan of; to delineate; to trace or mark out.
- to describe a circle by the compasses; a torch waved about the head in such a way as to describe a circle
- Uncas described an arc in the water with his own blade, and as the canoe passed swiftly on, Chingachgook recovered his paddle, and flourishing it on high, he gave the war-whoop of the Mohicans.1826, James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans
(transitive) To give rise to a geometrical structure.
- The function describes a very complex surface.
(transitive) To introduce a new taxon to science by explaining its characteristics and particularly how it differs from other taxa.
- The fungus was first described by a botanist.
(obsolete, transitive) To distribute into parts, groups, or classes; to mark off; to class.
- Passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 18:9

describe meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

describe in Hindi

to represent in words: वर्णन करना varṇan karnā

describe in Tamil

to represent in words: விவரி vivari
to give rise to a geometrical structure: வரை varai

describe in Urdu

to represent in words: بیان کریں bayān karnā

More languagesFewer languages

describe in Bengali: বর্ণনা করা bornona kora
describe in Telugu: వర్ణించు varṇiñcu
describe in Malayalam: വർണിക്കുക vaṟṇikkuka, വിവരിക്കുക vivarikkuka
describe in Kannada: ಒಕ್ಕಣಿಸು okkaṇisu
describe in Gujarati: વર્ણન કરો
describe in Odia: ବୋଲିବା bolibā
describe in Sanskrit: भालयते bhālayate, वर्तयति vartáyati
describe in Nepali: बखान्नु bakhānnu
describe in Arabic: وَصَفَ waṣafa
describe in Persian: توصیف کردن towsif kardan, وصفیدن, بیانیدن
describe in Thai: พรรณนา pan-ná-naa
describe in Vietnamese: miêu tả, mô tả
describe in Myanmar: သရုပ်ဖော် sa.ruphpau, ဖော်ပြ hpau-pra.

Examples of describe in a sentence

Several witnesses describe seeing lights in the sky that night.
That was the way Chollacombe described as knaggy an old gager as ever Charles had had the ill-fortune to serve.1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
Mae, who describes herself on Patreon as a 20-year-old university student from Canada, holds several world records for Baldur’s Gate 3 speedruns already — including her insane 4:15 any% speedrun.2024 January 27, Eliana Bollati, “Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrunner smashes two world records in just two days”, in Dexerto:
JD Vance continue to falsely describe how one of their major policy proposals, across-the-board tariffs, would work.2024 September 9, Katie Lobosco, “Fact check: Trump and Vance keep falsely describing how tariffs work”, in CNN:
His body was contracted and bent towards them, and described an undulatory movement like that of a worm writhing.1906, James George Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, volume 2, page 146:

All 40 example sentences with describe

Synonyms of describe

6 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of describe

Forms of describe

third-person singular present	describes
present participle	describing
past participle	described
past	described

Past tense of describe: described

Origin of describe

From Middle English descriven, from Old French descrivre, from Latin dēscrībō (“to copy off, transcribe, sketch off, describe in painting or writing”), from dē (“off”) + scrībō (“write”); see scribe and shrive. Displaced native Old English āmearcian.

Words formed from describe

Words that rhyme with describe

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about describe

What does describe mean?: Describe means to represent in words.
What is describe in Hindi?: Describe in Hindi is वर्णन करना (varṇan karnā). See Describe meaning in Hindi.
How do you use describe in a sentence?: Several witnesses describe seeing lights in the sky that night.
What part of speech is describe?: Describe is a verb.
How do you pronounce describe?: Describe is pronounced /dɪˈskɹaɪb/.
What is the past tense of describe?: The past tense of describe is described.

Words near describe in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: describe (page history and authors); describe (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); വിവരിക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಒಕ್ಕಣಿಸು (Kannada) (page history and authors); describe (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ବୋଲିବା (Odia) (page history and authors); भालयते (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); बखान्नु (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-describe.ogg.

Cite this entry: “describe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/describe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.