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verb

descry

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Descry (verb) means to make something known; to reveal it.

verb
1
To make something known; to reveal it.
2
(literary) To catch sight of something that is far away or hard to see.
"Dimly through the mists they could descry the long arm of the mountains rising on their left." — J. R. R. Tolkien, The Two Towers (1954)
"On the far hillside we are approaching can be descried a bridge on the first section (Ruabon–Llangollen) of the important G.W.R. branch to Dolgelley, which will shortly join our main line by means of a trailing junction." — R. S. McNaught, From the Severn to the Mersey by Great Western (1955)
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Etymology

From Middle English descrien, descriven in the 14th century already had the dual sense of "to proclaim, announce, make known" and "to see, discern, discover". On the one hand, the Middle English word is a loan Old French descrier (“to proclaim, announce, cry”), from des- + crier (“shout, cry”); in this case, the word is a doublet of decry, which was loaned from the same French source in the 17th century. Alternatively, as suggested by the spelling descriven, the Middle English word may be a contraction of Old French descrire, descrivre (“to describe”), from Latin describere, and thus a doublet of describe (so Palmer 1890, attributing the view to Walter William Skeat), but modern dictionaries more often seem to prefer the view that there was a secondary, folk-etymological influence on descrien by descriven within Middle English (so The Century Dictionary 1911). The semantic shift from "announce" to "discern, detect" is via "to cry out on discovering something that has been looked for". Palmer (1890) compares the etymology of Latin explorare "to search a wood &c. with cries".

Antonyms

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Frequently asked questions

What is the meaning of descry?
"descry" (verb) means to make something known; to reveal it.
What is another word for descry?
Other words for "descry" include espy, spy, spot.
What is the opposite of descry?
Opposites of "descry" include miss, overlook.
What are the different meanings of descry?
"descry" has 2 main meanings: 1. To make something known; to reveal it; 2. (literary) To catch sight of something that is far away or hard to see.

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Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · etymology from Wiktionary