DEFINITIONS AND

THEIR USES
 Definition

■ A group of words that assigns a meaning to some word or group of words.

DEFINITION

Definiendum = Definiens

Word to be defined Words that do the defining

 COFFEE

■ A coffee is a dark brown

drink made from ground
coffee beans and boiled
water.
Kinds of Definitions Based on Usage

■ 1. Stipulative Definition
■ 2. Lexical Definition
■ 3. Precising Definition
■ 4. Theoretical Definition
■ 5. Persuasive Definition
STIPULATIVE DEFINITION

■ a definition that has a meaning that is deliberately assigned to some symbol

■ “stipulate” means “to propose”
■ simply proposes a possible way to use a word which may or may not be accepted
■ completely arbitrary assignment of a meaning to a word for the first time, there can
be no such things as “true” or “false” stipulative definition.

PURPOSE: to replace a more complex expression with a simpler one

SELFIE is a photo taken by a person who loves to take picture of himself or herself.

LIGER is the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger.

ZEEDONK is the offspring of a zebra and a donkey

■ While enjoying a cup of coffee with a friend, your companion describes you as a
javaphiliac. Never having heard that word, you ask what “javaphiliac” means, and
your friend replies that it means a person who loves coffee so much that he or she is
practically addicted to it. Later you attempt to look up the word in a dictionary but
you cannot find it.
LEXICAL DEFINITION
■ a “reportive definition”
■ It is a definition that simply reports the way in which a term is already used within a
language community.
■ Dictionary definitions are all instances of lexical definitions.
■ capable of being true or false, of being accurate or inaccurate

■ PURPOSE: to inform someone also of the accepted meaning of the term

■ Disadvantage: it can be ambiguous
 AMBIGUOUS She is nice.
■ when it has more than one
distinct meaning and the She could be refined, modest,
context does not make pleasant, or attractive
clear which meaning is
intended.
PRECISING DEFINITION

■ used to eliminate ambiguity or vagueness

■ Once the vagueness of such words is reduced by a precising definition, one can
reach a decision as to the applicability of the word to a specific situation.

■ For example, if legislation were ever introduced to give direct financial assistance to
the poor, a precising definition would have to be supplied specifying exactly who is
poor and who is not.
■ Words such as RICH and POOR are considered vague because they don’t really
express a clear and definite meaning
Being “Poor" is anybody making less than 4,000 pesos a year and is worth less than
20,000 pesos.

■ A student is anyone attending an educational institution.

A student is any person under the age of 18 enrolled in an educational institution
THEORETICAL DEFINITION

■ -A definition that summarizes larger understanding of theory in which that term is a

key element
■ -As with theories, theoretical definitions are mere educated guesses therefore
cannot be judged true or false or be deemed entirely accurate. or inaccurate
■ The definition of the term ‘‘heat’’ found in texts dealing with the kinetic theory of
heat.
‘‘‘Heat’ means the energy associated with the random motion of the molecules of a
substance.’’ This definition does more than merely assign a meaning to a word; it
provides a way of conceiving the physical phenomenon that is heat. In so doing, it
suggests the deductive consequence that as the molecules of a substance speed up,
the temperature of the substance increases. In addition, it suggests a number of
experiments—experiments investigating the relationship between molecular velocity and
the phenomena of radiation, gas pressure, molecular elasticity, and molecular
configuration. In short, this definition of ‘‘heat’’ provides the impetus for an entire
theory about heat.
Persuasive definition

■ - used to produce a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward what is denoted by the

definiendum.
■ - While persuasive definitions may, like lexical definitions, be evaluated as either
true or false, the primary issue is neither truth nor falsity but the effectiveness of
such definitions as instruments of persuasion.
■ Abortion is defined in medicine as the premature exit of the products of conception
(the fetus, fetal membranes, and placenta) from the uterus.

■ Abortion is a willful murder of innocent unborn children, often performed to avoid the
personal and societal consequences of wanton sexual activity.

■ Abortion is the protected act of medically resolving a pregnancy for the purpose of
restoring, preserving or protecting the physical or mental health of a woman.