defining

Verb

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

1. To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly.
   • the defining power of an optical instrument
2. (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
3. To express the essential nature of something.
   • I define myself as a techno-anarchist.
4. To state the meaning of a word, phrase, sign, or symbol.
   • The textbook defined speed as velocity divided by time.
5. 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.
6. To demark sharply the outlines or limits of an area or concept.
   • to define the legal boundaries of a property

See all 8 meanings of define