different between category vs description

For information about Wiktionary categories, see Wiktionary:Categorization.

English

Etymology

Late Middle English, borrowed from French catégorie, from Middle French categorie, from Late Latin cat?goria (“class of predicables”), from Ancient Greek ????????? (kat?goría, “head of predicables”). Doublet of categoria.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /?kæt?????i/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kæt??(?)?i/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?k?t??(?)?i/, /?k?t???o??i/
• Hyphenation: cat?e?go?ry, cat?e?gory

Noun

category (plural categories)

1. A group, often named or numbered, to which items are assigned based on similarity or defined criteria.

   • The traditional way of describing the similarities and differences between constituents is to say that they belong to categories of various types. Thus, words like boy, girl, man, woman, etc. are traditionally said to belong to the category of Nouns, whereas words like a, the, this, and that are traditionally said to belong to the category of Determiners.

2. (mathematics) A collection of objects, together with a transitively closed collection of composable arrows between them, such that every object has an identity arrow, and such that arrow composition is associative.

Synonyms

• (group to which items are assigned): class, family, genus, group, kingdom, order, phylum, race, tribe, type
• See also Thesaurus:class

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• category in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• category in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology

From Old French description, from Latin d?scr?pti?, noun of action of d?scr?b? (“I describe”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??sk??p??n/

Noun

description (countable and uncountable, plural descriptions)

1. A sketch or account of anything in words; a portraiture or representation in language; an enumeration of the essential qualities of a thing or species.
2. The act of describing; a delineation by marks or signs.
3. A set of characteristics by which someone or something can be recognized.

   The zoo had no lions, tigers, or cats of any description.

4. (taxonomy) A scientific documentation of a taxon for the purpose of introducing it to science.

   The type description of the fungus was written by a botanist.

5. (linguistics) The act or practice of recording and describing actual language usage in a given speech community, as opposed to prescription, i.e. laying down norms of language usage.
6. (linguistics) A descriptive linguistic survey.

Synonyms

• (characteristics): sort, kind, type, variety

Derived terms

Related terms

• describe
• descriptive

Translations

See also

• prescription
• descriptivism

Further reading

• description in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• description in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

See also

• synopsis
• interpretation

Anagrams

• discerption, predictions

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin d?scripti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?s.k?ip.sj??/
• Homophone: descriptions

Noun

description f (plural descriptions)

1. description

Related terms

• décrire
• descriptif

Further reading

• “description” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old French

Etymology

From Latin d?scripti?.

Noun

description f (oblique plural descriptions, nominative singular description, nominative plural descriptions)

1. description

Related terms

• descrivre