diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc
index cb94d48..fd046ec 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc
@@ -56,12 +56,6 @@ QPDF_Array::getTypeName() const
     return "array";
 }
 
-void
-QPDF_Array::setDescription(QPDF* qpdf, std::string const& description)
-{
-    this->QPDFObject::setDescription(qpdf, description);
-}
-
 int
 QPDF_Array::getNItems() const
 {
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc
index 2623931..9453b64 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc
@@ -58,12 +58,6 @@ QPDF_Dictionary::getTypeName() const
     return "dictionary";
 }
 
-void
-QPDF_Dictionary::setDescription(QPDF* qpdf, std::string const& description)
-{
-    this->QPDFObject::setDescription(qpdf, description);
-}
-
 bool
 QPDF_Dictionary::hasKey(std::string const& key)
 {
diff --git a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Array.hh b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Array.hh
index f45f800..ac5d98b 100644
--- a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Array.hh
+++ b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Array.hh
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ class QPDF_Array: public QPDFObject
     virtual JSON getJSON(int json_version);
     virtual QPDFObject::object_type_e getTypeCode() const;
     virtual char const* getTypeName() const;
-    virtual void setDescription(QPDF*, std::string const&);
 
     int getNItems() const;
     QPDFObjectHandle getItem(int n) const;
diff --git a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.hh b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.hh
index 16801a7..be1c873 100644
--- a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.hh
+++ b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.hh
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ class QPDF_Dictionary: public QPDFObject
     virtual JSON getJSON(int json_version);
     virtual QPDFObject::object_type_e getTypeCode() const;
     virtual char const* getTypeName() const;
-    virtual void setDescription(QPDF*, std::string const&);
 
     // hasKey() and getKeys() treat keys with null values as if they
     // aren't there.  getKey() returns null for the value of a