Meaning of description (what is it, concept and definition)

What is Description:

A description is the action and effect of describing, that is, of explaining or representing in detail through language the characteristic features of an object, person, place, situation or event.

The description is intended to create in the listener or reader a mental image of the matter referred to in his absence. Grammatically, the word description is a feminine noun.

The descriptions can vary of type according to the function they have in the context of communication: scientific, literary, advertising, analytical fields, among others. There are different types of description, among which we will mention only the most common.

Description types

Objective description

It is that description in which the sender of the message tries to convey the image of what he describes in a precise way, without making value judgments and without letting feelings intervene.

In principle, it is assumed that an objective description will not omit any detail and will try to construct a faithful portrait of what is represented, without ranking the elements.

It is commonly used in different scientific disciplines to explain the most diverse phenomena and concepts.

Subjective description

Subjective description is called those verbal representations of people, things or situations in which the sender of the message prioritizes the importance of the traits, with the purpose of expressing how he feels in front of them or of achieving an emotional effect on the receiver of the message..

In the subjective description, the sender deliberately assumes a point of view, allowing him to omit or exacerbate those traits that favor the effect looking for his audience. In this case, the subjective description may include value judgments. This type of description is very common in literary genres such as poetry.

Description in literature

Literary description is a widely used resource in literature, especially in narrative genres such as novels and short stories.

The term also refers to the detailed explanation of the elements that characterize a character, a location, an object or an event, but this explanation has an aesthetic purpose.

For this reason, the inclusion of resources such as metaphors, symbols and different rhetorical figures that allow one to imagine or visualize a certain element to capture it vividly, is very typical of literary description. Example:

I was bordering the age of our gentleman with fifty years; He was of stout build, dry of meat, lean of face, great early riser and friend of the hunt.

Miguel de Cervantes, The ingenious gentleman on Don Quixote de la Mancha .

See also literary figures.

Furthermore, any literary description favors the perception of plausibility in the context of reading. This means that it allows those things treated by the narrator to appear "credible" in the eyes of the reader. Indeed, a literary description may be more intelligible, clear, plausible, or understandable to a reader than an objective description.

But also the literary descriptions are intended, in themselves, to achieve effects of aesthetic pleasure on the reader. Example:

The shield itself was made up of five plates and in it he
created many delicacies with skillful skill.
He made the earth, the sky and the sea appear in it,
The indefatigable sun and the full moon,
as well as all the stars that crown the firmament…

Homer, The Iliad, " Canto XVIII".

Geometric description

Geometric description is the name given to techniques that allow the representation of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. This allows the receiver of the message to create a mental image of the three-dimensional objects in space.