definiens

English

Etymology

From Latin, substantive use of dēfīniēns (“[a] defining”), present active participle of dēfīniō.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɪnɪɛnz/, /deːˈfiːnieːns/, /diːˈfaɪnɪɛːnz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

Examples
A lake is a large, landlocked, naturally occurring stretch of water.

definiens (plural definientia)

1. (semantics) The word or phrase that defines the definiendum in a definition.
   • 1977, Nelson Goodman, The Structure of Appearance, 3rd edition, D. Reidel, →ISBN, page XLIV:

     Yet such predicates will not in general even be interpreted over the domain of objects over which the definientia range.

   • 2011, Michail Peramatzis, Priority in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 196:

     In these definitions, then, there is only one part of the definiens, the form (e.g. being a human soul), which is prior to the kind and its matter.

Related terms

• define
• definiendum
• definition

References

• “definiens”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Further reading

• Definition on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Etymology

Present participle of dēfīniō.

Participle

dēfīniēns (genitive dēfīnientis); third-declension one-termination participle

1. limiting, terminating

Declension

Third-declension participle.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	dēfīniēns			dēfīnientēs	dēfīnientia
genitive	dēfīnientis			dēfīnientium
dative	dēfīnientī			dēfīnientibus
accusative	dēfīnientem	dēfīniēns		dēfīnientēs dēfīnientīs	dēfīnientia
ablative	dēfīniente dēfīnientī1			dēfīnientibus
vocative	dēfīniēns			dēfīnientēs	dēfīnientia

¹When used purely as an adjective.