define
/dɪˈfaɪn/ verb B1- To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly. · the defining power of an optical instrument
- 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.
- To demark sharply the outlines or limits of an area or concept. · to define the legal boundaries of a property
- To establish the referent of a term or notation.
He/she/it defines · Past defined · Past participle defined · -ing form defining
Verb forms
- Base form
- define
- He/she/it
- defines
- Past
- defined
- Past participle
- defined
- -ing form
- defining
From the library
“Yes,” said the procureur, “and I think the will promises to be yet more extraordinary, for I cannot see how it is to be drawn up without the intervention of Valentine, and she may, perhaps, be considered as too much interested in its contents to allow of her being a suitable interpreter of the obscure and ill-defined wishes of her grandfather.”
It was drifting slowly in our direction and banked itself up like a wall on that side of us, low but thick and well defined.
Such a change in a man of so much pride excited not only astonishment but gratitude--for to love, ardent love, it must be attributed; and, as such, its impression on her was of a sort to be encouraged, as by no means unpleasing, though it could not be exactly defined.
The bad side of human thought will always be defined by the paradox of Jean Jacques Rousseau,—you remember,—the mandarin who is killed five hundred leagues off by raising the tip of the finger.
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