described

verb

past tense of describe
1
as in depicted
to give a representation or account of in words he tried to describe the dream he had last night as accurately as he could

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in chronicled
to give an oral or written account of in some detail a biography of Washington that describes the decisive Battle of Yorktown at great length

Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in characterized
to point out the chief quality or qualities of an individual or group how would you describe the Inupiat people you encountered in Alaska?

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of described The modern American Dream is best described as a private bunker where the outside world arrives entirely in a cardboard box or a fiber-optic cable. — John Mac Ghlionn, Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2026 Strahan described the chaos in New York City amid the rescue efforts and the accompanying bomb threats and noted that the Giants could still see smoke from the twin towers from the team’s practice fields. — Michael Silver, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026 The requests were routed through a network of 5,380 accounts that Anthropic described as fraudulent, most of which appeared to be located in Singapore and Japan. — Jenny Lee, CNBC, 11 Sep. 2026 Years later, says William, a surviving police officer described encountering Biggart near the revolving doors below the building. — Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026 Others described seeing the image and feeling patriotism, or hope for the first time that the country might somehow recover. — Thomas E. Franklin, USA Today, 11 Sep. 2026 Officers found Baby in the car that witnesses had described in a Walgreens parking lot shortly after noon. — Fedor Zarkhin, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2026 Tinoco described this year as probably Fiesta Hispana’s most difficult financially outside of the COVID era. — Kansas City Star, 11 Sep. 2026 Five categories of spies are described, and espionage is treated as essential to providing rulers and commanders with the foreknowledge needed to make informed strategic decisions. — Ethan Teekah, Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for described
  1. depicted
  2. chronicled
  3. characterized
  4. portrayed
  5. recounted
  6. defined
  7. illustrated
  8. told
Verb
  • Some kids depicted in CSAM ads could not be matched, but ads overwhelmingly depicted preteen girls, TTP reported.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 8 Sep. 2026
  • Rome’s cultural superintendent, Claudio Parisi Presicce, said the grandeur of the port city as depicted in the fresco, with buildings, a theater and temple, public piazzas and towers, was particularly well conserved.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of depicted
Verb
  • The vanishing New York chronicled in the blogs of the mid-aughts has mostly vanished, NYU has colonized large swaths of downtown, and a populace struggling to afford the crushing price of housing has arisen in its wake.
    — David Freedlander, Curbed, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Its huge moves since then have been well chronicled, from the first spike toward 200 to eventually undercutting its IPO price before rising again.
    — Frank Cappelleri, CNBC, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of chronicled
Verb
  • The Nevada Independent previously reported on Thursday that the Nevada secretary of state’s office received the seven subpoenas, which the office characterized as being from the FBI.
    — Kaelan Deese, The Washington Examiner, 5 Sep. 2026
  • Latvia characterized the Leipzig attack in even stronger terms.
    — Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of characterized
Verb
  • That was portrayed in some quarters as a mass exodus, one that would inevitably lead to the remainder of Newcastle’s best players departing as well — if not during the window just gone, then next summer.
    — Chris Waugh, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Beatty portrayed River—the kindhearted fiancée of one of the siblings—until the play closed in June 2024.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of portrayed
Verb
  • But such calculations were only in the background on the summer day where the university lecturer recounted her health struggles over the past five years.
    — Caleb Hellerman, CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Johansson recounted how, during one studio session, Saab picked up a single piece of black fabric and twisted, turned, and draped it into a bustier dress right on the mannequin.
    — Tina Isaac-Goizé, Vogue, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of recounted
Verb
  • The tropical cyclone reached Category 5, defined by sustained winds of 157 mph or greater, overnight Friday before losing some of its steam and settling into Category 4’s limits of sustained winds of 130 to 156 mph by Saturday.
    — Dennis Romero, NBC news, 6 Sep. 2026
  • How can children manage recurring memories of planes taking down the skyscrapers that defined their childhood landscape?
    — Dr. Victor Fornari, New York Daily News, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of defined
Verb
  • But for Hatfield, the months-long legal battle illustrated the importance of Missouri’s referendum process, a mechanism for direct democracy that allows citizens to collect signatures and challenge state laws.
    — Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 11 Sep. 2026
  • The idea might seem clever, as if the artist has cannily illustrated how the lovey-dovey notion of romance and family is hokey, brain-dead, false.
    — Carlos Valladares, ARTnews.com, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of illustrated
Verb
  • The pound also drew support at the start of the Iran conflict in April on outsized market expectations for a monetary policy response to inflation fears from the Bank of England, Jane Foley, senior FX strategist at Rabobank, told CNBC.
    — Jenni Reid, CNBC, 9 Sep. 2026
  • As an aside, imagine the outcry there would be from Leclerc fans if Ferrari had told him to back up Hamilton.
    — Alex Kalinauckas, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of told

Browse Nearby Words

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described
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Cite this Entry

“Described.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/described. Accessed 12 Sep. 2026.

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