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单词 describe
释义 de·scribe
\də̇ˈskrīb, dēˈ-\ transitive verb
(-ed/-ing/-s)
Etymology: Latin describere, from de- + scribere to write — more at scribe
1. : to represent by words written or spoken for the knowledge or understanding of others:
 a. : to communicate verbally from the results of personal observation an account of salient identifying features of (something existing in space)
  < unable to find words to describe the mountain scene >
  < in 1886 a Boston surgeon … described the condition now called appendicitis — Morris Fishbein >
 specifically : to observe and narrate simultaneously with the action (as for radio or television)
  < describing a football game to an unseeing audience >
 b. : to transmit a mental image, an impression, or an understanding of the nature and characteristics of (something immaterial) : present distinctly by means of properties and qualities
  < the unique character of the artistic quality of a work … cannot be defined or even described — T.M.Greene >
  < there were so many things he wanted to describe — James Joyce >
  < like Mark Twain he exhibits rather than describes his characters: their speech is a portrait — Marvin Lowenthal >
 c. : to make clear by expounding especially in a minute way
  < had traveled in the principal countries of the world and described what it was like to live in a police state — Victor Boesen >
  < describe the life of the past from the various scraps of the fossil forms — W.E.Swinton >
 d. : to distinguish by a definitive label or other designation or by an individualizing phrase or similitude — used with as and a complement
  < few doctors would describe themselves as scientists >
  < the State is often rightly described as a machine: its total effect is inhuman — Herbert Read >
 e. : to convey an image or notion of : express, signify, denote
  < we have indicated that jealousy describes a state of tension among various interests of the personality — Abram Kardiner >
  < while the natural sciences grow more modest in admitting that their laws describe only probabilities — Reinhold Niebuhr >
2. obsolete : to write down : inscribe, transcribe
3. : to represent by a drawing, figure, model, or picture : portray, delineate
 < and when the curves thus brilliantly drawn describe vividly some object in life toward which we have pleasing associations we get a complex pleasure — Roger Fry >
4. : to mark out : trace or traverse the outline of
 < each planet describes an ellipse with the sun in one focus — S.F.Mason >
 < while he described a big smooth arc with the muleta — Barnaby Conrad >
 < butted amidships he described a somersault backward >
5. obsolete : to portion out : distribute
 < ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts — Josh 18:6 (Authorized Version) >
6. archaic : to discover by observation : espy, perceive
Synonyms: see relate
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更新时间:2024/11/11 3:36:17