diff --git a/.changeset/olive-moons-melt.md b/.changeset/olive-moons-melt.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..415c4cb8cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/olive-moons-melt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-catalog': patch
+'@backstage/plugin-api-docs': patch
+---
+
+Make the description column in the catalog table and api-docs table use up as
+much space as possible before hiding overflowing text.
diff --git a/packages/catalog-model/examples/components/petstore-component.yaml b/packages/catalog-model/examples/components/petstore-component.yaml
index 48286f9b74..878fabd551 100644
--- a/packages/catalog-model/examples/components/petstore-component.yaml
+++ b/packages/catalog-model/examples/components/petstore-component.yaml
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ apiVersion: backstage.io/v1alpha1
 kind: Component
 metadata:
   name: petstore
-  description: Petstore
+  # This is an extra long description
+  description: The Petstore is an example API used to show features of the OpenAPI spec.
   links:
     - url: https://github.com/swagger-api/swagger-petstore
       title: GitHub Repo
diff --git a/plugins/api-docs/src/components/ApiExplorerTable/ApiExplorerTable.tsx b/plugins/api-docs/src/components/ApiExplorerTable/ApiExplorerTable.tsx
index 729f659b56..5b9808e26d 100644
--- a/plugins/api-docs/src/components/ApiExplorerTable/ApiExplorerTable.tsx
+++ b/plugins/api-docs/src/components/ApiExplorerTable/ApiExplorerTable.tsx
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ const columns: TableColumn<EntityRow>[] = [
         placement="bottom-start"
       />
     ),
+    width: 'auto',
   },
   {
     title: 'Tags',
diff --git a/plugins/catalog/src/components/CatalogTable/CatalogTable.tsx b/plugins/catalog/src/components/CatalogTable/CatalogTable.tsx
index 91f187855a..ce2203bfbb 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog/src/components/CatalogTable/CatalogTable.tsx
+++ b/plugins/catalog/src/components/CatalogTable/CatalogTable.tsx
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ const columns: TableColumn<EntityRow>[] = [
         placement="bottom-start"
       />
     ),
+    width: 'auto',
   },
   {
     title: 'Tags',