- characterized by or containing description; serving to describe
- (of an adjective) serving to describe the referent of the noun modified, as for example the adjective brown as contrasted with my and former
- relating to or based upon description or classification rather than explanation or prescription
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
de•scrip•tive
(di skrip′tiv),USA pronunciation adj.
de•scrip′tive•ly, adv.
de•scrip′tive•ness, n.
- having the quality of describing;
characterized by description:a descriptive passage in an essay. - Grammar
- Grammar(of an adjective or other modifier) expressing a quality of the word it modifies, as fresh in fresh milk. Cf. limiting.
- Grammar(of a clause) nonrestrictive. Cf. restrictive (def. 4).
- noting, concerned with, or based upon the fact or experience.
- characterized by or based upon the classification and description of material in a given field:descriptive botany.
- Late Latin dēscrīptīvus, equivalent. to Latin dēscrīpt(us) (see description) + -īvus -ive
- 1745–55
de•scrip′tive•ness, n.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
descriptive /dɪˈskrɪptɪv/ adj
de•scrip•tion /dɪˈskrɪpʃən/USA pronunciation
n.
de•scrip•tive•ly, adv. See -scrib-.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- a statement or an account that describes:[countable]provided the police with a description of the killer.
- the act or method of describing:[uncountable]A police officer develops good powers of observation and description.
- [count; usually singular] sort;
kind;
variety:She liked dogs of every description.
de•scrip•tive•ly, adv. See -scrib-.
de•scrip•tion
(di skrip′shən),USA pronunciation n.
- a statement, picture in words, or account that describes;
descriptive representation. - the act or method of describing.
- sort;
kind;
variety:dogs of every description. - Mathematics[Geom.]the act or process of describing a figure.
- Latin dēscrīptiōn- (stem of dēscrīptiō), equivalent. to dēscrīpt(us) (past participle of dēscrībere to describe) + -iōn- -ion
- Middle English descripcioun 1300–50
- 3. species; nature, character, condition; ilk.
'descriptive' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
affair
- Bloomfield
- epithet
- fauna
- flora
- -graphy
- herbalist
- imagery
- label
- name
- overture
- résumé
- sketch
- structural linguistics
- surname
- that
- title
- verb
- appellative
- ascriptive
- Australoid
- Buys-Ballot's law
- catalog
- catalogue raisonné
- character
- character piece
- charactonym
- description
- descriptive bibliography
- descriptive cataloging
- descriptive clause
- descriptive geometry
- descriptive grammar
- descriptive linguistics
- descriptivist
- determiner
- disclosure
- id
- idyll
- inventory
- irregular
- limiting adjective
- list
- modern
- modify
- nonrestrictive
- nonrestrictive clause
- -ock
- of
- old style