{
    "term": "describe",
    "partOfSpeech": "verb",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "a1",
    "verbForms": {
        "presentSimple": {
            "iYouWeThey": "describe",
            "heSheIt": "describes"
        },
        "pastSimple": "described",
        "pastParticiple": "described",
        "ingForm": "describing"
    },
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "to say what somebody/something is like",
            "sensetop": "describe somebody/somethingdescribe somebody/something to somebodydescribe somebody/something for somebodydescribe somebody/something as somethingdescribe yourself as somethingdescribe how, what, etc…describe doing something",
            "cefr": "a1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The next section **describes** our findings **in detail**.",
                    "contextForm": "describe somebody/something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "to describe a method/process/situation"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Can you describe him to me?",
                    "contextForm": "describe somebody/something to somebody"
                },
                {
                    "text": "They described for us exactly what happened.",
                    "contextForm": "describe somebody/something for somebody"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The man was described as tall and dark, and aged about 20.",
                    "contextForm": "describe somebody/something as something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "She describes herself as an artist.",
                    "contextForm": "describe yourself as something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Describe how you did it.",
                    "contextForm": "describe how, what, etc…"
                },
                {
                    "text": "**Words cannot describe** what I felt at that moment."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Witnesses described seeing strange lights in the sky.",
                    "contextForm": "describe doing something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The area I grew up in is described as semi-rural."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She described briefly what happened."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He goes on to describe very vividly how Caesar was stabbed to death."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He goes on to describe vividly how Lincoln was assassinated."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Observers have described the situation in the country as ‘serious’."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The shirt was variously described as ‘pink’, ‘salmon’ and ‘rose’."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Their daily lives are described in detail."
                },
                {
                    "text": "This process is fully described in section three of the book."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Words cannot describe our feelings at that moment."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Jim was described by his colleagues as ‘unusual’."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The current political situation in Vietnam is described in chapter 8."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Production data were collected and analysed by methods previously described for Trial 1."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["accurately", "exactly", "in detail"],
                "verb + describe": ["cannot", "be difficult to", "be hard to"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "to make a movement that has a particular shape; to form a particular shape",
            "sensetop": "describe something",
            "labels": "(formal or specialist)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The shark described a circle around the shoal of fish."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The road describes a long loop around the town."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈskraɪb/",
                "audio": "de/describe/describe__gb_2.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈskraɪbz/",
                "audio": "de/describe/describes__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈskraɪbd/",
                "audio": "de/describe/described__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈskraɪbɪŋ/",
                "audio": "de/describe/describing__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈskraɪb/",
                "audio": "de/describe/describe__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈskraɪbz/",
                "audio": "de/describe/describes__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈskraɪbd/",
                "audio": "de/describe/described__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈskraɪbɪŋ/",
                "audio": "de/describe/describing__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late Middle English: from Latin describere, from de- ‘down’ + scribere ‘write’."
}