DESCRIPTOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does descriptor mean? 

• DESCRIPTOR (noun)
  The noun DESCRIPTOR has 2 senses:

1. the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something

2. a piece of stored information that is used to identify an item in an information storage and retrieval system

  Familiarity information: DESCRIPTOR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DESCRIPTOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

descriptor; form; signifier; word form

Context example:

the inflected forms of a word can be represented by a stem and a list of inflections to be attached

Hypernyms ("descriptor" is a kind of...):

word (a unit of language that native speakers can identify)

Domain category:

linguistics (the scientific study of language)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "descriptor"):

plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)

singular; singular form (the form of a word that is used to denote a singleton)

ghost word (a word form that has entered the language through the perpetuation of an error)

base; radical; root; root word; stem; theme ((linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed)

etymon; root (a simple form inferred as the common basis from which related words in several languages can be derived by linguistic processes)

citation form; entry word; main entry word (the form of a word that heads a lexical entry and is alphabetized in a dictionary)

abbreviation (a shortened form of a word or phrase)

acronym; initialism (a word formed from the initial letters of the several words in the name and pronounced as one word)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A piece of stored information that is used to identify an item in an information storage and retrieval system

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("descriptor" is a kind of...):

information (knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction)

Domain category:

computer science; computing (the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures)

 Context examples 

A superordinate descriptor for one or more Meddra preferred terms (PTs).

(Meddra High Level Term, NCI Thesaurus)

A superordinate descriptor for one or more Meddra high level terms (HLT).

(Meddra High Level Group Term, NCI Thesaurus)

It consists of sets of terms naming descriptors in a hierarchical structure that permits searching at various levels of specificity.

(Medical Subject Headings, NCI Thesaurus)

An automated procedure that uses a specialized set of concept descriptors for conversion of the target concept descriptors into executable elements of other code systems with the equivalent semantics.

(Code Translation, NCI Thesaurus)

A non-lymphoid hematopoietic neoplasm that diffusely involves hematopoietic tissue, generally both the spleen and bone marrow; Comment: Additional descriptor may be applied if appropriate: Acute; Comment: Additional descriptor may be applied if appropriate: Therapy Related; Comment: Additional descriptor may be applied if appropriate: With Multilineage Dysplasia; Disorder exhibits additional aspect of malignancy in appearance or behavior; Mice exhibit anemia, neutropenia, and/or thrombocytopenia; Neoplastic cells are disseminated; Non-lymphoid hematopoietic cells are increased in spleen (generally in both bone marrow and spleen)

(Mouse Non-lymphoid Leukemia, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

Descriptor of an Image.

(Image Type, NCI Thesaurus/DICOM)

Though the 6th Edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual indicates that unspecified TNM staging descriptors may be considered synonymous with the corresponding fully specified clinical category, such omission may lead to ambiguity in meaning, and in practice unqualified descriptors are frequently used with other intended meanings.

(Generic TNM Finding, NCI Thesaurus)