different between clarification vs description

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French clarification, from Latin cl?rific?ti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?klæ??f??ke???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

clarification (countable and uncountable, plural clarifications)

1. The act of clarifying; the act or process of making clear or transparent by freeing visible impurities; particularly, the clearing or fining of liquid substances from feculent matter by the separation of the insoluble particles which prevent the liquid from being transparent.

2. The act of freeing from obscurities.

Quotations

• 1627, Sir Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: Or a Natural History in Ten Centuries

  To know the means of accelerating clarification [in liquors] we must know the causes of clarification.

Related terms

• clarifier
• clarify

Translations

See also

• qualification
• sedimentation

References

• clarification in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French clarification, from Latin cl?rific?ti?; equivalent to clarifier +? -ation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kla.?i.fi.ka.sj??/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

clarification f (plural clarifications)

1. clarification

Related terms

• see clair

Further reading

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

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cl?rific?ti?.

Noun

clarification f (plural clarifications)

1. clarification

Descendants

• French: clarification
• ? English: clarification

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