Word.ws English Dictionary

describes

Syllables: de·scribes/dəˈskɹaɪbz/

describes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of describe.

Meaning of describe

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To represent in words.
    • The feeling is difficult to describe, but not unpleasant.
    Synonyms:
    portray, bewrite
  2. (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
  3. (transitive) To give rise to a geometrical structure.
    • The function describes a very complex surface.
  4. (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.
  5. (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

Words that rhyme with describes

Questions about describes

What is describes the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Describes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of describe.
How do you pronounce describes?
Describes is pronounced /dəˈskɹaɪbz/.

Words near describes in the dictionary

  1. describees
  2. describent
  3. describents
  4. describer
  5. describers
  6. describes
  7. describest
  8. describeth
  9. describing
  10. descried
  11. descrier

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: describes (page history and authors); describe (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.

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