describe
[verb]
Synonyms:
- relate, depict, explain, express, narrate, portray, recount, report, tell
- trace, delineate, draw, mark out, outline

---

Related Words: communicate, impart, transmit, construe, elucidate, explain, explicate, expound, exemplify, illustrate, characterize, distinguish

---

English Thesaurus: describe, tell somebody about somebody/something, depict, portray/represent, characterize somebody/something as something, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

de‧scribe S2 W1 /dɪˈskraɪb/ verb [transitive]
[Word Family: adjective: describable ≠ indescribable, nondescript, descriptive; verb: describe; noun: description; adverb: descriptively]
[Date: 1400-1500; Language: Latin; Origin: describere, from scribere 'to write']

1. to say what something or someone is like by giving details about them:
The police asked her to describe the man.
Another approach to the problem is described in Chapter 3.
describe somebody/something as (being/having) something
After the operation her condition was described as comfortable.
The youth is described as being 18 to 19 years old.
describe how/why/what etc
It’s difficult to describe how I feel.
describe somebody/something to somebody
So describe this new boyfriend to me!
describe doing something
He described finding his mother lying on the floor.

2. describe a circle/an arc etc formal to make a movement which forms the shape of a circle etc:
Her hand described a circle in the air.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

describe
verb
ADV. accurately, exactly, in detail Their daily lives are described in detail.
fully This process is fully described in section three of the book.
adequately | briefly He described briefly what happened.
vividly
VERB + DESCRIBE cannot Words cannot describe our feelings at that moment.
be difficult to, be hard to, be impossible to | go on to He goes on to describe very vividly how Caesar was stabbed to death.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

describe
verb
BAD: He described me his sister in great detail.
GOOD: He described his sister (to me) in great detail.
BAD: Let me describe you a typical day in Brazil and then you'll understand why I live here.
GOOD: Let me describe (to you) a typical day in Brazil and then you'll understand why I live here.

Usage Note:
describe sth (to sb ): 'I described my symptoms to the doctor at the hospital.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

describe to talk or write about a person, place, event etc, in order to show what they are like:
Could you try and describe the man you saw?
In her book, she describes her journey across the Sahara.
Police described the attack as particularly violent.
tell somebody about somebody/something to describe someone or something to someone. This phrase is more commonly used than describe in everyday spoken English:
So, tell me about your holiday!
My friends have told me all about you!
depict formal to describe someone or something in a piece of writing:
His stories depict life in Trinidad as seen through the eyes of a young boy.
In this new biography she is depicted as a lonely and unhappy woman.
portray/represent formal to describe someone or something in a particular way:
College teachers are often represented on television shows as slightly eccentric.
The magazine has been criticized for the way it portrays women.
The treatment has been portrayed as a painless way of curing cancer, which is simply not true.
Police have represented her as a willing participant in the crimes.
characterize somebody/something as something formal to describe someone or something by emphasizing one particular quality or feature about them:
He characterized himself as ‘an average American’.
The successful schools were characterized as innovative and creative.
paint somebody/something as something to describe someone or something, especially in a way that makes people believe something that is not true:
Not all young people are as bad as they’re painted in the press.
We won, yet the media is painting it as a victory for our opponents.
The woman was painted as having only a slight grasp of reality.
paint a picture to describe a situation, so that people can get a general idea of what it is like:
Can you paint a picture of life in Japan for us?
My uncle’s letters generally painted a rosy picture of how things were.
The report painted a bleak picture of the management’s failures.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲