 An extensional definition is one that assigns a

meaning to a term by indicating the members of

the class that the definiendum denotes.

 Three ways of indicating the member of a class:

pointing to them, naming them individually, and
naming them in groups
 Demonstrative (ostensive)definitions

 Enumerative definitions

 Definition by subclass
 Most primitive form of definition

 Mostly demonstrated by pointing at an object

 Example – “C.S.B. means” that – as you point to

it
 Assigning a meaning to a term by naming the
members of the class the term denotes

 Example – “School” means DLSU, ADMU, CSB,

or UP
 Assigns a meaning to a term by naming
subclasses denoted by the term.

 Example – “Reptile” means snakes, crocodilians,

lizards and the like.
 An intentional definitions is one that assigns
meaning to a word by indicating the qualities or
attributes that the word connotes.
 Synonymous Definition

 Etymological definition

 Operational Definition

 Definition by genus and difference

 One in which the definiens is a single word that
connotes the same attributes as the definiendum

 Example – “gender” means sex

 Assigns a meaning to a word by disclosing the
word’s ancestry to both its own language and
other languages.

 Example – “captain” is derived from the Latin

noun caput which means “head”.
 Assigns a meaning to a word by specifying
certain experimental procedures to determine
whether or not the word applies to a certain thing.

 Example – One object weighs “heavier” than

another if and only if it has a greater amount of
weight according to a weighing scale
 Assigns a meaning to a term by identifying a
genus term and one or more difference words
that, when combined, convey the meaning of the
term being defined.

 Example – “Puppy”(species) means

infant(difference) dog(genus.