☞ In popular use, this word often conveys the idea of intentional untruth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not giving a true representation of the characteristics of a group; -- of a sample or subgroup of a group; as, the weather we had in the summer of 1996 gave a nonrepresentative view of our normal weather.
Syn. -- biased, unrepresentative. [ PJC ]

Before him burn
Seven lamps, as in a zodiac representing
The heavenly fires. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To portray by pictoral or plastic art; to delineate; as, to represent a landscape in a picture, a horse in bronze, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To portray by mimicry or action of any kind; to act the part or character of; to personate; as, to represent Hamlet. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To stand in the place of; to supply the place, perform the duties, exercise the rights, or receive the share, of; to speak and act with authority in behalf of; to act the part of (another); as, an heir represents his ancestor; an attorney represents his client in court; a member of Congress represents his district in Congress. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To exhibit to another mind in language; to show; to give one's own impressions and judgement of; to bring before the mind; to set forth; sometimes, to give an account of; to describe. [ 1913 Webster ]

He represented Rizzio's credit with the queen to be the chief and only obstacle to his success in that demand. Robertson. [ 1913 Webster ]

This bank is thought the greatest load on the Genoese, and the managers of it have been represented as a second kind of senate. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To serve as a sign or symbol of; as, mathematical symbols represent quantities or relations; words represent ideas or things. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To bring a sensation of into the mind or sensorium; to cause to be known, felt, or apprehended; to present. [ 1913 Webster ]

Among these. Fancy next
Her office holds; of all external things
Which he five watchful senses represent,
She forms imaginations, aery shapes. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Metaph.) To form or image again in consciousness, as an object of cognition or apprehension (something which was originally apprehended by direct presentation). See Presentative, 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

The general capability of knowledge necessarily requires that, besides the power of evoking out of unconsciousness one portion of our retained knowledge in preference to another, we posses the faculty of representing in consciousness what is thus evoked . . . This representative Faculty is Imagination or Phantasy. Sir. W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which represents. Specifically: (a) A likeness, a picture, or a model; as, a representation of the human face, or figure, and the like. (b) A dramatic performance; as, a theatrical representation; a representation of Hamlet. (c) A description or statement; as, the representation of an historian, of a witness, or an advocate. (d) The body of those who act as representatives of a community or society; as, the representation of a State in Congress. (e) (Insurance Law) Any collateral statement of fact, made orally or in writing, by which an estimate of the risk is affected, or either party is influenced. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The state of being represented. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Description; show; delineaton; portraiture; likeness; resemblance; exhibition; sight. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Bearing the character or power of another; acting for another or others; as, a council representative of the people. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Conducted by persons chosen to represent, or act as deputies for, the people; as, a representative government. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Nat.Hist.) (a) Serving or fitted to present the full characters of the type of a group; typical; as, a representative genus in a family. (b) Similar in general appearance, structure, and habits, but living in different regions; -- said of certain species and varieties. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Metaph.) Giving, or existing as, a transcript of what was originally presentative knowledge; as, representative faculties; representative knowledge. See Presentative, 3 and Represent, 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. One who, or that which, represents (anything); that which exhibits a likeness or similitude. [ 1913 Webster ]

A statute of Rumor, whispering an idiot in the ear, who was the representative of Credulity. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Difficulty must cumber this doctrine which supposes that the perfections of God are the representatives to us of whatever we perceive in the creatures. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An agent, deputy, or substitute, who supplies the place of another, or others, being invested with his or their authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) One who represents, or stands in the place of, another. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The executor or administrator is ordinarily held to be the representative of a deceased person, and is sometimes called the legal representative, or the personal representative. The heir is sometimes called the real representative of his deceased ancestor. The heirs and executors or administrators of a deceased person are sometimes compendiously described as his real and personal representatives. Wharton. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A member of the lower or popular house in a State legislature, or in the national Congress. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Nat.Hist.) (a) That which presents the full character of the type of a group. (b) A species or variety which, in any region, takes the place of a similar one in another region. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dr. Burnet observes, that every thought is attended with consciousness and representativeness. Spectator. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A representative. [ Obs. ] Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]