Alreadydescribed

Alreadydescribed is a compound term used in information organization to indicate that a subject or item has already been described in a prior source or section. It is not standardized across disciplines but appears in data schemas and annotation guidelines as a signal of redundancy or prior characterization.

Etymology and usage variants: The word combines already and described; it is sometimes written as already-described or used as a metadata tag such as status: alreadydescribed in databases. It functions as a qualifier rather than a descriptive label.

Applications: In biology, taxonomy, and archival work, an entry may be flagged as alreadydescribed when a subject duplicates a prior description. In literature curation, the tag helps avoid re-describing items that are already characterized and linked to original sources.

Example: A database note might read: "gene X alreadydescribed; no new characterization provided." Another entry could mark an artifact as alreadydescribed to indicate prior publication.

Limitations and related terms: Lack of formal standardization means interpretation varies by context. It relates to deduplication, redescription, and citation chaining. Best practice is to accompany the label with a reference to the original description.

See also: duplicates, previously described, redescription, deduplication.