Date: 1300-1400
Language: Old French
Origin: representer, from Latin repraesentare, from praesentare; PRESENT2


Related topics: Parliaments
rep‧re‧sent S2 W1

speak for somebody

[transitive] to officially speak or take action for another person or group of people:
Mr Kobayashi was chosen to represent the company at the conference.

in court

[transitive] 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.

be something

[linking verb] 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.


[transitive]PGP to have been elected to a parliament, council etc by the people in a particular area:
He represents the Congressional District of Illinois.


[transitive] to be a sign or mark that means something [= stand for]:
Brown areas represent deserts on the map.


[transitive] to be a symbol of something [= symbolize]:
He hated the school and everything it represented.


[transitive] 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.

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.


[transitive] to describe someone or something in a particular way, especially in a way that is not true [= 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.


[transitive] if a painting, statue, piece of music etc represents something or someone, it shows them:
Paintings representing religious themes were common in medieval times.

Dictionary results for "represent"
Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?