diff --git a/documentation/API.md b/documentation/API.md
index 5231d69..74cd2ec 100644
--- a/documentation/API.md
+++ b/documentation/API.md
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ Example output:
       },
       [...]
     ],
+    "descriptions": [
+      "An oxygen hydride consisting of an oxygen atom that is covalently bonded to two hydrogen atoms"
+    ],
     "type": [
       "biolink:SmallMolecule",
       "biolink:MolecularEntity",
@@ -82,6 +85,8 @@ Example output:
     Each identifier includes an `identifier` (a CURIE), a `label` (which corresponds to the label of the CURIE as per
     its authoritative source), a `description` (currently only taken from UberGraph), and (if `individual_types` is set)
     the Biolink type of each identifier. This list is ordered in the Biolink Model's preferred prefix order for this class.
+  * `descriptions`: a list of unique descriptions for the identifiers within this clique. This list is ordered in the same
+    order as `equivalent_identifiers`.
   * `type`: The list of Biolink classes for this clique, starting with the most specific type (in this example,
     `biolink:SmallMolecule`), and ending with any mixins that include this class.
   * `information_content`: the information content value between 0 and 100. This is calculated by retrieving the
diff --git a/node_normalizer/normalizer.py b/node_normalizer/normalizer.py
index d346996..32d9126 100644
--- a/node_normalizer/normalizer.py
+++ b/node_normalizer/normalizer.py
@@ -799,18 +799,19 @@ async def create_node(app, canonical_id, equivalent_ids, types, info_contents, i
     # or filtered_possible_labels after this point.
 
     # now need to reformat the identifier keys.  It could be cleaner but we have to worry about if there is a label
-    first_description = None
+    descriptions = []
     node_taxa = set()
     node["equivalent_identifiers"] = []
     for eqid in eids:
         eq_item = {"identifier": eqid["i"]}
         if "l" in eqid and eqid["l"]:
             eq_item["label"] = eqid["l"]
-        # if descriptions is enabled and exist add them to each eq_id entry
+        # if descriptions is enabled, add it to descriptions.
         if include_descriptions and "d" in eqid and len(eqid["d"]) > 0:
-            eq_item["description"] = eqid["d"][0]
-            if not first_description:
-                first_description = eq_item["description"]
+            desc = eqid["d"][0]
+            eq_item["description"] = desc
+            if desc not in descriptions:
+                descriptions.append(desc)
         # if include_taxa is enabled and we have taxa on this node, add them to every eq_id entry
         if include_taxa and "t" in eqid and eqid["t"]:
             eq_item["taxa"] = eqid["t"]
@@ -820,8 +821,9 @@ async def create_node(app, canonical_id, equivalent_ids, types, info_contents, i
             eq_item["type"] = eqid['types'][-1]
         node["equivalent_identifiers"].append(eq_item)
 
-    if include_descriptions and first_description:
-        node["description"] = first_description
+    if include_descriptions and descriptions:
+        node["descriptions"] = descriptions
+        node["id"]["description"] = descriptions[0]
 
     if include_taxa and node_taxa:
         node["taxa"] = sorted(node_taxa, key=get_numerical_curie_suffix)