Definition

A statement of the meaning of a term. The term to be defined is the definiendum. The term may have different senses and multiple meanings. For each meaning, definiens is a cluster of words that defines that term. A definition will vary in aspects like precision or popularity. There are also different types of definitions with different purposes and focuses (e.g. intensional, extensional, descriptive, stipulative, and so on). A chief difficulty in the management of definitions is the necessity of using other terms that are already understood or whose definitions are easily obtainable or demonstrable (e.g. a need, sometimes, for ostensive definitions). A dictionary definition typically contains additional details about a word, such as an etymology and the language or languages of its origin, or obsolete meanings.