rep‧re‧sent S2 W1 / reprɪzent / 动词
1 speak for somebody [及物动词] to officially speak or take action for another person or group of people :
Mr Kobayashi was chosen to represent the company at the conference.
2 in court [及物动词] to speak officially for someone in a court of law
represent yourself
She decided to represent herself (= speak for herself without a lawyer ) during the trial.
3 be something [连系动词] to form or be something → amount to :
European orders represented 30 percent of our sales last year.
represent a change/an advance/an increase etc
This treatment represents a significant advance in the field of cancer research.
4 government [及物动词] to have been elected to a parliament, council etc by the people in a particular area :
He represents the Congressional District of Illinois.
5 sign [及物动词] to be a sign or mark that means something 同义词 stand for :
Brown areas represent deserts on the map.
6 symbol [及物动词] to be a symbol of something 同义词 symbolize :
He hated the school and everything it represented.
7 sports [及物动词] if you represent your country, school, town etc in a sport, you take part in a sports event for that country etc :
Her greatest ambition was to represent her country at the Olympics.
8 be represented if a group, organization, area etc is represented at an event, people from it are at the event :
All the local clubs were represented in the parade.
9 describe [及物动词] to describe someone or something in a particular way, especially in a way that is not true 同义词 portray → depict
represent somebody/something as something
The article represents the millionaire as a simple family man.
He had represented himself as an employee in order to gain access to the files.
10 art [及物动词] if a painting, statue , piece of music etc represents something or someone, it shows them :
Paintings representing religious themes were common in medieval times.
THESAURUS
describe to talk or write about a person, place, event etc, in order to show what they are like : Could you try and describe the man you saw? | In her book, she describes her journey across the Sahara. | Police described the attack as particularly violent.
tell somebody about somebody/something to describe someone or something to someone. This 短语 is more commonly used than describe in everyday spoken English : So, tell me about your holiday! | My friends have told me all about you!
depict formal to describe someone or something in a piece of writing : His stories depict life in Trinidad as seen through the eyes of a young boy. | In this new biography she is depicted as a lonely and unhappy woman.
portray/represent formal to describe someone or something in a particular way : College teachers are often represented on television shows as slightly eccentric. | The magazine has been criticized for the way it portrays women. | The treatment has been portrayed as a painless way of curing cancer, which is simply not true. | Police have represented her as a willing participant in the crimes.
characterize somebody/something as something formal to describe someone or something by emphasizing one particular quality or feature about them : He characterized himself as ‘an average American’. | The successful schools were characterized as innovative and creative.
paint somebody/something as something to describe someone or something, especially in a way that makes people believe something that is not true : Not all young people are as bad as they’re painted in the press. | We won, yet the media is painting it as a victory for our opponents. | The woman was painted as having only a slight grasp of reality.
paint a picture to describe a situation, so that people can get a general idea of what it is like : Can you paint a picture of life in Japan for us? | My uncle’s letters generally painted a rosy picture of how things were. | The report painted a bleak picture of the management’s failures.