# describe

Pronunciation: say "di-SKRYB" /dɪˈskɹaɪb/

## Verb

1. To represent a person, thing, or event in words; to give an account of what it is like.
   - Simple: To say or write what someone or something is like.
   - _The witness described the suspect to the police._
   - _Reviewers struggled to describe the film's strange ending._
2. To formally introduce a new species or other taxon to science by setting out its characteristics and how it differs from related taxa.
   - Simple: To officially name and explain a new kind of living thing for science.
   - _Before a team can describe a new species, it must compare its specimens with those of every close relative already known._
   - _Taxonomists must describe each new species according to strict naming rules._
3. To draw or trace out a line or shape, or to move along a path that forms one, as a point moving along a curve does.
   - Simple: To draw a line or shape, or to move in a way that makes that shape.
   - _The skater described a graceful arc across the ice._
   - _Planets describe ellipses as they travel around the sun._

## Verb

4. To divide things into parts or categories, or mark out their boundaries. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To divide things into parts or groups, or to mark their boundaries.

## Origin

This word comes from Latin dēscrībō ("I copy off, transcribe, sketch, or describe in writing or painting"), formed from dē ("off") plus scrībō ("write"), and related to scribe and shrive. It passed through Old French descrivre and Middle English descriven, replacing the native Old English āmearcian.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/describe (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).