Represented

How to spell represented

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce represented

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does represented mean?

1. verbActed or spoke on behalf of a person, group, or organisation.
2. verbShowed, depicted, or stood as a symbol for something.

Represented in a sentence

• The solicitor represented her client throughout the trial.

• The painting represented a quiet harbour at dawn.

• Two delegates represented the company at the trade conference.

• Each colour on the chart represented a different department.

Where does represented come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past tense of 'represent', which traces back to the Latin verb repraesentare, meaning 'to make present, to bring before, or to show'. That verb was built from the prefix re-, used here as an intensifier, and praesentare 'to place before someone or set in view', itself from praesens 'being at hand or in front'. Latin passed the word into Old French as representer, and English adopted it in the 1300s, first in the sense of bringing something vividly to mind or displaying it. From the idea of 'standing in the place of' something grew the modern legal and political senses of acting on behalf of others. The spelling keeps the buried 's' of 'present', which is silent to the ear in the unstressed middle and is the spot writers most often slip on.

How the word is built

• re- (back, again)
• present (from Latin praesentare, to make present)
• -ed (past tense suffix)