Nominal Definition

• A definition is a statement explaining what something is, answering the question "what is this thing?"
• Giving a definition assumes the term's comprehension, as the definition relies on this understanding.
• 'DEFINITION' comes from the Latin definire, meaning 'to lay down the boundary.'
• Etymologically, to define means 'to lay down the markers or limits.'
• Defining a term explains its meaning, with the term to be defined called definiendum, and the defining term called definiens.
• The definiens is a symbol with the same meaning as the definiendum, but is not the definiendum.

Definition Components

• Definiendum = term to be defined
• Definiens = defining the term

Types of Definition

• Nominal
• Real

Nominal Definition

• Expresses what the name means, not what the thing is.
• Circumscribes a word's precise meaning without considering its real nature.
• Required when introducing a new term or clarifying an ambiguous one.

Kinds of Nominal Definition

• Ostensive (demonstrative) definition means indicating the meaning of a term by showing or pointing at the object.
• The term 'ostensive definition' comes from the Latin 'ostendere', meaning 'to point' or 'to show'.
• It is a non-linguistic method considered a fundamental type of definition.
• Synonymous definition gives the same connotation of the term.
• The definition is exact enough to replace the term in any context without changing the meaning.
• Etymological definition gives the word's origin.
  • Hypothermia comes from 'hypo' meaning below and 'therm' meaning heat, and means low body temperature.
  • Perambulate comes from 'per' meaning through and 'ambul' to walk, and means to walk through.

Real Definition

• Tells what the thing is, beyond just the word's meaning, and explores the nature of the thing.
• All real definitions are nominal definitions, but not vice versa.
• Nominal definition identifies the term, while real definition clarifies its nature.
• Real definition is subdivided into essential and non-essential.

Essential Definition

• Constructed by genus and specific difference.
  • 'Man' is a 'rational animal', defining man by its genus and specific difference, belonging to ‘animal’ and distinguished by ‘rationality.’

Non-Essential Definition

• Gives more notable characteristics, divided into four groups:
• Distinctive definition, or definition by property, provides natural characteristics that necessarily follow from the thing's essence.

Examples

• Man is capable of distinguishing what is morally right and what is morally wrong.

• Oxygen is a gas 1.05 times as heavy as air.

• Genetic definition furnishes the mode of the origin of something, describing how it is produced.

  • Earthquake is the trembling of the land surface due to the faulting of the rocks.
  • Circle is a figure formed by evolving a line in plane reaching one of its ends.

• Causal definition describes a thing by its efficient and final cause.

  • Definition by efficient cause gives the producer of a thing.

    • Al-Qaida: created by Osama Bin Laden.
    • Les Miserables: 1862 novel by Victor Hugo.

  • Definition by final cause gives the purpose or end on account of which a thing is produced.

    • Spacecraft is a vehicle used for travelling in space

• Accidental definition explains a thing by giving characteristics that are contingently connected with it, not essential to its nature.

  • A typhoon is tremendously strong.
  • A sitcom is hilarious.

Rules of Good Definition

• A definition should avoid vagueness and ambiguity as well as theoretical or figurative language

• A definition must use language easily understood, be user-friendly, and avoid being misleading or obscure/figurative.

• Obscure definitions include definitions that are too complex or technical for an average person to understand.

  • Net is the reticulated fabric decussated at regular intervals with interstices and intersections.
  • Sugar is a sweet crystallizable material that consist wholly or essentially of sucrose, is colorless or white when pure tending to brown when less refined, obtained commercially from sugarcane or sugar beet and less extensively from sorghum.

• Figurative definitions include language that uses abstract or implausible statements.

  • Love is a sweet misery
  • Bachelor is a man happier than others
  • Lawyer is someone who makes crime pay

• Definitions should not be circular using the defined term in the definition.

  • An inventor is one who invents something.
  • A wall clock is a clock on the wall.

• Definitions should not be needlessly negative, but state what a thing is, not what it is not.

  • Odd is not even.
  • Antonym is the opposite of synonym

Privative Examples

- A blind man is one that cannot see
- A cripple man is one who cannot walk

• Definitions must be precise or neither too narrow/broad.
  • Too broad if it could be applied to an object it does not. If the range is too restrictive of the object.

Too Broad examples

- A square is a four side polygon.
- E-mail is a message sent electronically.
- A cat is a domestic animal.

Too Narrow Examples

- A woman is a married mother.
- A doctor is a surgeon.

Additional Kinds of Definition

• Precising

  • A definition devised to eliminate ambiguity or vagueness by delineating a concept more sharply
    • Obscene media; guidelines and code of conduct

• Theoretical

  • A definition that encapsulates an understanding of the theory in which that term is a key element
    • Planet
    • Pluto is not a planet because it doesn't meet the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) definition of a planet.
    • Pluto is a dwarf planet because it hasn't cleared its orbit of other objects

• Persuasive

  • A definition formulated and used to resolve a dispute by influencing attitudes or stirring emotions, often relying upon the use of emotive language
    • Constitutional amendment

Postscript

• Hybrid words: - Textpection - Hyberdating - Nonversation