Help:Description

A description in Bendata is a preferably short phrase that explains the purpose or reason for existence of an entity.

The purpose of the descriptions varies depending on whether they are for an item or a property. While item descriptions help to differentiate one item from another, in properties they serve to briefly explain the use of the property.

Descriptions guidelines
If it's an item, it is preferable to give a short description. For example if the item is about a person either living or dead, the best option is to name their job(s) and their country of origin listed as their nationality.

In the other hand, if it is a property, the description can and should be a little longer. If you think a good description of a property's usage would be too long, you can cut it off and add the remaining part as a statement with the Bendata usage instructions (P9) property. However, the instructions entered should not be extremely long either.