Word.ws English Dictionary

definitionism

definitionism noun: the school of thought that for a theory to be properly explained it is necessary that all concepts used by the theory be well-defined.

Noun

definitionism (uncountable)

  1. The school of thought that for a theory to be properly explained it is necessary that all concepts used by the theory be well-defined.
    • Instead of logic chopping and the unconnected neat boxes produced by definitionism, ritual provides activities that fuse a wide variety of things that seem otherwise unrelated.1992, William R. LaFleur, Liquid Life: Abortion and Buddhism in Japan, Princeton University Press, page 15, Quoted in 2015, Adam C. Pelser, Robert C. Roberts, 18: Religious value and moral...
    • Some philosophers have not given up on definitionism.2006, Jack S. Crumley II, A Brief Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind, Rowman & Littlefield, page 152
    Synonyms:
    classical theory of concepts

Synonyms of definitionism

  • classical theory of concepts

Origin of definitionism

From definition + -ism.

Words formed from definitionism

  • social definitionism

Questions about definitionism

What does definitionism mean?
Definitionism means the school of thought that for a theory to be properly explained it is necessary that all concepts used by the theory be well-defined.
What part of speech is definitionism?
Definitionism is a noun.

Words near definitionism in the dictionary

  1. definition list
  2. definition lists
  3. definitional
  4. definitionally
  5. definitioneering
  6. definitionism
  7. definitionless
  8. definitionlessness
  9. definitions
  10. definitions by pointing
  11. definitise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: definitionism (page history and authors). 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.

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