different between elaborate vs description

English

Etymology

1575, from Late Latin ?lab?r?tus (“worked out”), past participle of ?lab?r? (“to work out”), from ?- (“out, forth, fully”) + labor (“work, toil, exertion”). More at e-, labour.

Pronunciation

• Adjective: ?l?'b?r?t, IPA^(key): /??læb???t/
• Verb: ?l?'b?r?t, IPA^(key): /??læb??e?t/

Adjective

elaborate (comparative more elaborate, superlative most elaborate)

1. Complex, detailed, or sophisticated.

2. Intricate, fancy, flashy, or showy.

   • The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.

Translations

Verb

elaborate (third-person singular simple present elaborates, present participle elaborating, simple past and past participle elaborated)

1. (transitive) to develop in detail or complexity
   • 1871, "Bismarck", All the Year Round (volume 5, page 129)

     […] by the time of the subsequent coronation, when the Prussian king put the crown on his own head in child-like belief of the obsolete doctrine called divine right, the untiring statesman had elaborated his scheme of reform.
2. (intransitive) (sometimes followed by on or upon, and then the object of the preposition) to expand/enlarge in detail

   What do you mean you didn't come home last night? Would you care to elaborate?

   Could you elaborate on the plot for your novel for me?

Translations

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /elabo?rate/

Verb

elaborate

1. adverbial present passive participle of elaborar

Italian

Adjective

elaborate

1. feminine plural of elaborato

Verb

elaborate

1. second-person plural present indicative of elaborare
2. second-person plural imperative of elaborare
3. feminine plural of the past participle of elaborare

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /e?.la.bo??ra?.te/, [e???äbo???ä?t??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /e.la.bo?ra.te/, [?l?b?????t??]

Verb

?lab?r?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of ?lab?r?

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