definition

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A statement conveying fundamental character.
2. n. A statement of the meaning of a word, phrase, or term, as in a dictionary entry.
3. n. The act or process of stating a precise meaning or significance; formulation of a meaning.
4. n. The act of making clear and distinct: a definition of one's intentions.
5. n. The state of being closely outlined or determined: "With the drizzle, the trees in the little clearing had lost definition” ( Anthony Hyde).
6. n. A determination of outline, extent, or limits: the definition of a President's authority.
7. n. The clarity of detail in an optically produced image, such as a photograph, effected by a combination of resolution and contrast.
8. n. The degree of clarity with which a televised image or broadcast signal is received.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The determination of the limits or outlines of a thing; a marking out; the state of being clearly marked out or outlined; specifically, in optics, the defining power of a lens—that is, its ability to give a clear, distinct image of an object in all its important details. This depends upon the freedom of the lens from spherical and chromatic aberration.
2. n. The act of stating the signification of a word or phrase, or the essential properties of a thing.
3. n. A statement of the signification of a word or phrase, or of what is essential to the conception of any given thing; an explanation of how any given kind is distinguished from all other kinds. Three conceptions of the nature of definition have prevailed at different times: Aristotle taught that every strict definition consists of two parts, different in kind, one declaring the genus or higher class to which the species defined belongs, the other declaring the specific difference by which the given species differs from others of the same genus. This view influences most of the definitions of systematic botany and zoology.

Wiktionary

1. n. semantics A statement of the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or symbol (dictionary definitions).
2. n. A statement expressing the essential nature of something; formulation
3. n. The action or process of defining.
4. n. The act of defining; determination of the limits.
5. n. A product of defining.
6. n. The action or power of describing, explaining, or making definite and clear.
7. n. Clarity of visual presentation, distinctness of outline or detail.
8. n. Clarity, especially of musical sound in reproduction.
9. n. Sharp demarcation of outlines or limits.
10. n. bodybuilding The degree to which individual muscles are distinct on the body.
11. n. programming A statement which provides a previous delcaration with a value or body of a subroutine (in the case of function).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of defining; determination of the limits.
2. n. Act of ascertaining and explaining the signification; a description of a thing by its properties; an explanation of the meaning of a word or term
3. n. rare Description; sort.
4. n. (Logic) An exact enunciation of the constituents which make up the logical essence.
5. n. (Opt.) Distinctness or clearness, as of an image formed by an optical instrument; precision in detail.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a concise explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase or symbol
2. n. clarity of outline