description

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Act of representation

Nouns

1. description, account, exposé (see disclosure); specification, particulars; summary (see shortness); guidebook (see information); delineation, representation, sketch, portrait; bitmap; minute, detailed, circumstantial, or graphic account; narration, recital, rehearsal, relation, recitation. See list, news.

2. history, oral or written history; biography, autobiography; necrology, obituary; narrative, memoir, curriculum vitae; annals, chronicle, legend, story, tale, yarn, anecdote, historiette; personal narrative, journal, life, adventures, fortunes, experiences, confessions; work of fiction, novel, novelette, novella, romance, love story; detective story, thriller; fairy tale, nursery tale; fable, parable, apologue. Informal, traveler's tale, shaggy-dog story, cock-and-bull story, a whole Megillah, herstory. Slang, whodunit.

3. narrator, relator, historian, recorder, biographer, fabulist, novelist; raconteur, anecdotist, storyteller. See writing.

Verbs — describe, narrate, relate, recite, recount; set forth, draw a picture, limn, picture; portray, represent, characterize, particularize; sum up, run over, recapitulate, rehearse, fight one's battles over again; unfold, tell, give or render an account of, write up, [make a] report, draw up a statement; enter into details or particulars, specify.

Adjectives — descriptive, graphic, narrative, well-drawn; historical, epic, suggestive, traditional; fabulous, legendary; picaresque, anecdotal, expository, storied; biographical, autobiographical; fictional, fictitious; true-to-life, lifelike.

Phrases — fact is stranger than fiction.

Quotations — A novel is a mirror which passes over a highway (Stendhal), Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity (G. K. Chesterton), A beginning, a muddle, and an end (Philip Larkin).

Antonyms, see distortion.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [A picture, usually in words]

Syn. representation, narration, story, portrayal, portrait, word picture, account, report, delineation, sketch, specification, characterization, declaration, rehearsal, recitation, information, recital, narrative, informal definition, detailing, record, monograph, brief, summary, summarization, depiction, explanation, writeup; see also record 1 , representation .

2. [A sort or group]

Syn. order, variety, type, classification; see kind 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

portrayal, depiction, detailing, chronicle, sketch, explanation, illumination, specification, characterization, elaboration, report, *blow by blow, rundown.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. A recounting of past events: account, chronicle, history, narration, narrative, report, statement, story, version. See WORDS. 2. The act or process of describing in lifelike imagery: delineation, depiction, expression, portrayal, representation. See SHOW. 3. A class that is defined by the common attribute or attributes possessed by all its members: breed, cast, feather, ilk, kind2, lot, manner, mold, nature, order, sort, species, stamp, stripe, type, variety. Informal: persuasion. See GROUP.