define

Syllables: de·fine/dɪˈfaɪn/

define verb: to determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly.

Verb

define (third-person singular simple present defines, present participle defining, simple past and past participle defined)

To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly.
- the defining power of an optical instrument
- Rings[…]very distinct and well defined.1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin]...
(obsolete) To settle, decide (an argument etc.).
- These warlike Champions, all in armour shine, / Assembled were in field the chalenge to define.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
To express the essential nature of something.
- I define myself as a techno-anarchist.
- Your past mistakes do not define who you are.
To state the meaning of a word, phrase, sign, or symbol.
- The textbook defined speed as velocity divided by time.
To describe, explain, or make definite and clear; used to request the listener or other person to elaborate or explain more clearly his or her intended meaning of a word or expression.
- Person 1: Is she good at math?
  Person 2: Define "good." If you mean if she is faster than the average middle schooler at multiplication, then yes. If you mean if she is able to do multivariable calculus, then no.
To demark sharply the outlines or limits of an area or concept.
- to define the legal boundaries of a property
- Neither Marx nor Engels ever clearly defined the concept of class, and the last chapter of Volume III of Capital, which was to treat of this question, breaks off after three or four paragraphs.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in...
To establish the referent of a term or notation.

Noun

define (plural defines)

A kind of macro in source code that replaces one text string with another wherever it occurs.
- From the computer programming perspective, Java looks like C and C++ while discarding the overwhelming complexities of those languages, such as typedefs, defines, preprocessor, unions, pointers, and multiple inheritance.1996, James Gosling, Henry McGilton, The Java Language Environment
- Anyone who has attempted to do OO programming in a conventional language using defines will find out that it is impossible to realize the benefits easily, if at all, without compiler support.1999, Ian Joyner, Objects unencapsulated: Java, Eiffel, and C++, page 309

define meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

define in Hindi

परिभाषित करें, परिभाषित करना

define in Tamil

உறுதியான, தெளிவான, நிலையான, பொருள் வரையறை செய், இலக்கணம் வரை, வரையறுக்கப்பட்ட

define in Marathi

परिभाषित करणे, परिभाषित करा

define in Urdu

متعین کرنا

More languagesFewer languages

define in Bengali: সংজ্ঞায়িত করা, সংজ্ঞায়িত করুন, সংজ্ঞা দেওয়া
define in Telugu: నిర్వచించండి, నిర్వచించు, నిర్వచించుటకు
define in Malayalam: അർത്ഥം വിവരിക്കുക, നിർവചിക്കുക, വർണ്ണിക്കുക
define in Kannada: ಎಲ್ಲೆ ತೋರಿಸು, ಹುರುಳು ತಿಳಿಸು, ಸೂತ್ರಿಸು, ಸೂತ್ರ ನಿರ್ಮಾಣಮಾಡು
define in Gujarati: વ્યાખ્યાયિત કરો
define in Odia: ସଂଜ୍ଞାଯ଼ିତ କରନ୍ତୁ
define in Nepali: परिभाषित गर्नुहोस्, परिभाषित गर्ने
define in Persian: تعریفتن

Examples of define in a sentence

Cantor defined a one-to-one correspondence between the points of the square and the points of the line segment.2013 May-June, Brian Hayes, “Crinkly Curves”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 178:
But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 164:

All 40 example sentences with define

Forms of define

Verb
third-person singular present	defines
present participle	defining
past participle	defined
past	defined
Noun
plural	defines

Past tense of define: defined

Origin of define

From Middle English definen, from Old French definer, variant of definir, from Latin dēfīniō (“limit, settle, define”), from dē + fīniō (“set a limit, bound, end”).

Words that rhyme with define

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about define

What does define mean?: Define means to determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly.
What is define in Hindi?: Define in Hindi is परिभाषित करें, परिभाषित करना. See Define meaning in Hindi.
How do you use define in a sentence?: Cantor defined a one-to-one correspondence between the points of the square and the points of the line segment.
What part of speech is define?: Define can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce define?: Define is pronounced /dɪˈfaɪn/.
What is the past tense of define?: The past tense of define is defined.

Words near define in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: define (page history and authors); define (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); define (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); define (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); define (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); define (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); define (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); define (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); define (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); define (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); define (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); define (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-define.ogg.

Cite this entry: “define.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/define. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.