Past tense of describe
regular verb
The past tense of describe is described. The past participle is also described.
Forms of describe
| Base form (V1) | describe /dɪˈskɹaɪb/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | described /dɪˈskɹaɪbd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | described /dɪˈskɹaɪbd/ |
| Present participle | describing |
| Third person singular | describes /dəˈskɹaɪbz/ |
Described in a sentence
- 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
- Yet the truth is that City would probably have been coasting by that point if the referee, Michael Oliver, had not turned down three separate penalties, at least two of which could be accurately described as certainties.2014 November 2, Daniel Taylor, “Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United”, in The Guardian
- When he described the settlers' dominance as accomplished, he meant that it was a fait accompli.From the entry accomplished
- Their music has been described as a blend of jazz and heavy metal.From the entry blend
- This is described in more detail in Brown’s book on the subject (q.v.).From the entry q.v.
Meaning of describe
- verb To represent in words.
- verb To represent by drawing; to draw a plan of; to delineate; to trace or mark out.
- verb To give rise to a geometrical structure.
Questions about the past tense of describe
- What is the past tense of describe?
- The past tense of describe is described.
- What is the past participle of describe?
- The past participle of describe is described.
- Is describe a regular or irregular verb?
- Describe is a regular verb: its past tense adds -d.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: describe (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of describe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/describe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.