What is a definition?
TERM | is/are | CATEGORY | LINK | unique in some way |
---|---|---|---|---|
Crabs | are | large crustaceans | which | walk sideways |
Dogs | are | domestic animals | that | were bred from wolves |
“Dog” | refers to | domestic animals | which were | bred from wolves |
Akita | is a kind of | Japanese Dog | , | made famous by Hachiko. |
Happiness | is a form of | emotional state | caused by | eating chocolate |
Happiness | can be defined as | an emotional state | which results from | eating chocolate |
The word “dreich” | is a | Scottish term | which describes | cold, grey, dark, miserable weather. |
When to use a definition
- In a description paragraph
- Maybe the Introduction, if you don’t use it in Description.
- If you are using a normal word in a special way
- Happiness is defined here as the emotional state which results from eating chocolate
- Happiness is here used to mean a score of 5 or higher on the self-assessment Satisfaction scale
- Happiness is operationalised as balance between positive and negative emotion (Ryff, 1989)
Tips to help you understand
- A good definition defines ONLY ONE thing
- “Tea is a soft drink made with hot water.” is not good
- “Tea is a soft drink made from the leaves of Camellia Sinensis.”
- Think of it as a reverse quiz question:
- Bad Question: What is a soft drink made with hot water?
- Answer: Um… Tea? Coffee? Hot lemon?
- Good Question: What is a soft drink made from the leaves of Camellia Sinensis?
- Answer: Tea
- Look at the first sentence or two of any Wikipedia article - it is usually a definition
- Gold is a chemical element with symbol Au and atomic number 79.
- Paper is a thin material produced by pressing together moist fibres…
- Economics is the social science that describes the factors that determine …
Common mistakes
- Con’t copy a definition from a dictionary”. Do you own research.
- Don’t define obvious things. We know what gold is. Maybe define CONFLICT gold instead.
- Don’t define things with words from the name
“The Malaysian tiger is a tiger from Malaysia”