Representing

How to spell representing

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce representing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does representing mean?

1. verbActing or speaking officially on behalf of another person, group, or organisation.
2. verbDepicting, standing for, or symbolising something in an image, sign, or description.

Representing in a sentence

• The lawyer representing the family declined to comment.

• The chart uses red bars representing each month of falling sales.

• She travelled to the summit representing her entire department.

• The mural is a vast painting representing the city in its early years.

Where does representing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the present participle of the verb 'represent', which English took from the Old French representer in the 1300s, itself drawn directly from the Latin repraesentare. The Latin verb was built from the prefix re-, here adding emphasis, and praesentare meaning 'to make present, place before someone, or show', which in turn rests on praesens 'present, at hand'. The earliest English senses were quite literal: to bring something vividly before the mind or eye, to display or symbolise. From there the meaning broadened to 'stand in place of' another person or thing, giving us both the artistic sense (a picture representing a scene) and the legal and political sense (a lawyer or delegate acting on someone's behalf). The spelling keeps the full 'present' visibly intact, so the simplest memory aid is to see 're' plus the everyday word 'present' plus 'ing', with no doubled letters to worry about.

How the word is built

• re- (again, back)
• present (from praesentare: to make present, show)
• -ing (verb form suffix)