This week in our series, Steve Ember and Shirley Griffith describe the first days of the American Civil War.

VOA: special.2009.08.20

For example, the word circus is used to describe any noisy place with a lot of activities going on.

VOA: special.2009.01.11

Old-timers used it to describe a man who had just arrived from one of the big cities back east.

VOA: special.2010.05.23

Mister Jungen has said that the sports industry makes free use of American Indian words and images to describe its teams.

VOA: special.2009.11.13

These are words that visitors use to describe Dolly Sods, a large wild area in the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia.

VOA: special.2009.07.20

This week in our series, Harry Monroe and Kay Gallant describe events during the spring of eighteen sixty-three.

VOA: special.2009.10.15

Some of the guests were not sure what to think of Ellen and Doug's celebration -- or even how to describe it.

VOA: special.2011.05.23

Sociologists from the University of Maryland found that people who describe themselves as happy spend less time watching television than unhappy people.

VOA: special.2009.03.10

Edgar Allan Poe did something unusual for writers of his time: he used a narrator in a story to describe what was happening.

VOA: special.2009.02.02

The expression was first used in the southern part of the United States to describe the use of force to win an election.

VOA: special.2009.02.15

American writer Alice Kahn is said to have invented the term to describe young people who spend a lot of time using computers.

VOA: special.2010.03.28

Scientists use the word biodiversity to describe the existence of many kinds of plants,animals and other organisms.

VOA: special.2010.05.25

The expression may be used to describe a politician's last campaign, his final attempt to win the cheers and votes of the people.

VOA: special.2010.04.11

You may have heard the term laissez-faire to describe a kind of economic or political policy.

VOA: special.2010.04.18