Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To state the precise meaning of (a word or sense of a word, for example).
- intransitive verb To describe the nature or basic qualities of; explain.
- intransitive verb To make clear the outline or form of; delineate.
- intransitive verb To specify distinctly.
- intransitive verb To give form or meaning to.
- intransitive verb To make or write a definition.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To determine, declare, or mark the limit of; circumscribe; determine or indicate the bounds or outlines of with precision; mark or set out clearly: as, to
define the extent of a kingdom or country. - To fix, establish, or prescribe authoritatively: as, to
define the duties of an officer. - To state the signification of; explain what is expressed by (a word, a phrase, etc.); state the nature or essential properties of: as, to
define virtue; define your meaning more clearly. - To determine; settle; decide.
- To determine; decide; give judgment.
- To state a definition.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb obsolete To determine; to decide.
- transitive verb To fix the bounds of; to bring to a termination; to end.
- transitive verb To determine or clearly exhibit the boundaries of; to mark the limits of.
- transitive verb To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly.
- transitive verb To determine the precise signification of; to fix the meaning of; to describe accurately; to explain; to expound or interpret.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
determine . - verb To express the essential
nature of something. - verb To state the
meaning of aword or word group or a sign or symbol. - verb To describe, explain, or make definite and
clear . - verb To demark sharply the outlines or limits of an area or concept.
- noun computing, programming A kind of
macro insource code thatreplaces one textstring with another wherever it occurs.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb decide upon or fix definitely
- verb show the form or outline of
- verb determine the essential quality of
- verb determine the nature of
- verb give a definition for the meaning of a word
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word define.
Examples
-
We can therefore define the constant BRATE as: #define BRATE
-
I asked Democrats about that, and they said well, the way that we interpret the term define, is that there's going to be an awful lot of negative advertising.
-
The next term that we must accurately define is "North American"; all too often we think of North Americans as those from the United States and Canada.
-
The next term that we must accurately define is "North American"; all too often we think of North Americans as those from the United States and Canada.
-
The next term that we must accurately define is "North American"; all too often we think of North Americans as those from the United States and Canada.
-
The next term that we must accurately define is "North American"; all too often we think of North Americans as those from the United States and Canada.
-
The next term that we must accurately define is "North American"; all too often we think of North Americans as those from the United States and Canada.
-
The next term that we must accurately define is "North American"; all too often we think of North Americans as those from the United States and Canada.
-
But the thing that really bugs me about Cheney's quote (again, he said, regarding torture, that: "The fact of the matter is the Justice Department reviewed all those allegations several years ago.") is that in using the Justice Department as justification, he brings to mind the old story used to define the Yiddish word chutzpah: Someone who kills his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court as an orphan.
-
The hardest of these elements to define is the last one: what I like.
June 2007 2007
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.