Editing Definition (section)

==Basic terminology==
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In modern usage, a definition is something, typically expressed in words, that attaches a meaning to a word or group of words. The word or group of words that is to be defined is called the ''definiendum'', and the word, group of words, or action that defines it is called the ''definiens''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://beisecker.faculty.unlv.edu//Courses/Phi-102/Definitions.html|title=DEFINITIONS|website=beisecker.faculty.unlv.edu|access-date=2019-11-28}}</ref> For example, in the definition ''"An elephant is a large gray animal native to Asia and Africa"'', the word "elephant" is the ''definiendum'', and everything after the word "is" is the ''definiens''.<ref name="hurley9">{{cite book |last1=Hurley |first1=Patrick J. |title=A Concise Introduction to Logic |chapter=Language: Meaning and Definition |edition=9 |publisher=Wadsworth |year=2006 |pages=86–91 }}</ref>

The ''definiens'' is not ''the meaning'' of the word defined, but is instead something that ''conveys the same meaning'' as that word.<ref name="hurley9"/>

There are many sub-types of definitions, often specific to a given field of knowledge or study. These include, ''lexical definitions'', or the common dictionary definitions of words already in a language; ''demonstrative definitions'', which define something by pointing to an example of it (''"This," [said while pointing to a large grey animal], "is an Asian elephant."''); and ''precising definitions'', which reduce the vagueness of a word, typically in some special sense (''"'Large', among female Asian elephants, is any individual weighing over 5,500 pounds."'').<ref name="hurley9"/>