different between class vs description

English

Etymology

From Middle French classe, from Latin classis (“a class or division of the people, assembly of people, the whole body of citizens called to arms, the army, the fleet, later a class or division in general”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh?- (“to call, shout”). Doublet of classis.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Ireland, New England) enPR: kläs, IPA^(key): /kl??s/
• (Northern England, Scotland) enPR: kl?s, IPA^(key): /klæs/, /klas/
• (General American, NYC) enPR: kl?s, IPA^(key): /klæs/, /kle?s/
• Rhymes: -??s, -æs
• Hyphenation: class

Noun

class (countable and uncountable, plural classes)

1. (countable) A group, collection, category or set sharing characteristics or attributes.
3. (sociology, countable) A social grouping, based on job, wealth, etc. In Britain, society is commonly split into three main classes; upper class, middle class and working class.
4. (uncountable) The division of society into classes.

5. (uncountable) Admirable behavior; elegance.

7. (education, countable and uncountable) A group of students in a regularly scheduled meeting with a teacher.

8. A series of lessons covering a single subject.

9. (countable) A group of students who commenced or completed their education during a particular year. A school class.

10. (countable) A category of seats in an airplane, train or other means of mass transportation.
12. (taxonomy, countable) A rank in the classification of organisms, below phylum and above order; a taxon of that rank.

13. Best of its kind.
14. (statistics) A grouping of data values in an interval, often used for computation of a frequency distribution.
16. (set theory) A collection of sets definable by a shared property.
    • 1973, Abraham Fraenkel, Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, Azriel Lévy, Foundations of Set Theory, Elsevier, 2nd Edition, page 119,

      In the present section we shall discuss the various systems of set theory which admit, beside sets, also classes. Classes are like sets, except that they can be very comprehensive; an extreme example of a class is the class which contains all sets. […] The main point which will, in our opinion, emerge from this analysis is that set theory with classes and set theory with sets only are not two separate theories; they are, essentially, different formulations of the same underlying theory.

17. (military) A group of people subject to be conscripted in the same military draft, or more narrowly those persons actually conscripted in a particular draft.
19. (object-oriented programming, countable) A set of objects having the same behavior (but typically differing in state), or a template defining such a set.

20. One of the sections into which a Methodist church or congregation is divided, supervised by a class leader.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:class

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (kurasu)

Translations

Verb

class (third-person singular simple present classes, present participle classing, simple past and past participle classed)

1. (transitive) To assign to a class; to classify.
2. (intransitive) To be grouped or classed.
   • 1790, Edward Tatham, The Chart and Scale of Truth

     the genus or family under which it classes

3. (transitive) To divide into classes, as students; to form into, or place in, a class or classes.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

class (not comparable)

1. (Ireland, Britain, slang) great; fabulous
   • 2009, Erik Qualman, Socialnomics

     To talented authors Tim Ash and Brian Reich for introducing me to John Wiley & Sons—a truly class outfit.

Related terms

References

• class in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• class in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• "class" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 60.
• class at OneLook Dictionary Search
• class in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.

Further reading

• Von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Old Irish

Verb

·class

1. passive singular preterite conjunct of claidid

Mutation

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