Lecture 6. Definition in Terminology: definition, classification, examples, best and worst practice.

A definition: a descriptive statement that gives the essential characteristics of a concept as well as
characteristics that distinguish the concept from all others.
A definition: «A statement that describes a concept and permits its differentiation from other concepts
within a system of concepts.» (ISO 12620 : A.5.1)
A context: a quoted text that illustrates the definition. It may also take the place of a definition. The
term must always be present in the context.
A context can be: definitional/defining, explanatory, associative
Defining contexts include the essential characteristics of the concept under study.
Explanatory contexts provide information about some of the characteristics.
Associative contexts demonstrate the use of the term in the subject field under study, but do not help
to illustrate the textual match through correspondence of semantic features.
Examples
Defining context: "BSE or ‘Mad Cow Disease’ is a progressive, fatal disease of the nervous
system of cattle."
Explanatory context: "The disease has an incubation period of four to five years, but ultimately
is fatal for cattle within weeks to months of its onset. BSE first came to the attention of the
scientific community in November 1986 in the United Kingdom (UK)."
Associative context: "BSE is a federally reportable disease in Canada, under the authority of the
Health of Animals Act."
Observations or notes provide further information regarding usage of the term in discourse.
Phraseologisms and usage samples show how the term is used.
Observations provide information about nuances of the concept or about usage of the terms that
designate the concept.
Roles:
- connects two entities:
o the concept
o the term (~ the designation of the concept)
- states the essential and delimiting characteristics of a concept
- helps establish the textual match between languages
Functions:
- fixation of a concept (typically during first concept – term assignment)
- explanation of a concept
- relating concepts (either for differentiation or similarity)
Form: term IS A description of concept Definiendum = Definiens
Types of definition depend on:
Need
Client
Term (Terms that have multiple meanings (polysemes) should be defined.)
Goal: intra-organization communication, R&D, educational etc.
Types of definitions:
- definitions by genus and specific difference
- partitive definitions
- definitions by synonym
- definitions by description
- mixed synonym and description
- operational definitions
- definitions by demonstration
- extensional definitions
Definitions by genus and specific difference: also called analytical / Aristotelian definition
- suitable to define nouns
- analyzes their characteristics

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 - indicate the superordinate concept (the concept immediately above or at a higher level), then
the characteristic(s) that distinguish the concept from others in the same concept system.
Ex. lead pencil: Pencil whose graphite core is fixed in a wooden casing that is removed for usage by
sharpening.
Superordinate concepts - pencil / writing instrument.
Essential and delimiting characteristics - casing must be removed for usage by sharpening
- graphite core is fixed in wood casing.
Partitive definitions: describe a whole by its parts, or describe a part in relation to the whole
formulas: part of, component of, section of, period of, element in, ingredients making up, etc., followed
by the superordinate concept.
Ex. lead cartridge: The part of a mechanical pencil’s lead advance mechanism which stores and
guides the lead refill as it moves forward.
Superordinate concept - lead advance mechanism.
Essential and delimiting characteristics - stores the lead; guides the lead as it is advanced.
Definitions by synonymy: define the concept using a term with the same meaning, considered to be
more familiar to the target audience.
Softlifting: software piracy, software theft
Definitions by description: list the essential characteristics of the concept (nature, material, purpose,
means, cause and effect, time, place).
Mirror: a polished surface, usually made of glass, that forms images by reflection.
Nature - a polished surface.
Material - glass.
Purpose - to form images.
Means - by reflection.
Mixed: ex. synonym and description - begin with a synonym, then describe use, purpose, nature, etc.
Impulse (physiology): the signal that travels along the length of a nerve fibre.
Operational definitions: describe the performance of observable and repeatable operations
- Useful for defining processes, methods, mechanisms and machines by describing how they are
conducted or how they operate or function.
Ex. Printer: A computer peripheral that produces a durable record of data in the form of a
sequence of discrete graphic characters belonging to a predetermined character set.
Extensional Definitions – (in highly specialized terminological documents directed at field specialists)
- the definition can be formulated as an exhaustive list of the subordinate concepts which
correspond to the objects in the class.
Ex. threatened species: Critically endangered species, endangered species or vulnerable species.
- the range of objects is limited and can be covered
- Ex. the world’ oceans: the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian, the Arctic
Definitions: intensional vs extensional
by extension: “«expenses» include costs, charges and necessary outlays of every description;
«notice» includes a demand, consent or waiver.” (in legal texts - contracts)
by intension: “«business day» means a day on which banks and foreign exchange markets are
open for business in London and New York.”
Other types:
- Lexicographic vs. encyclopedic ~ terminographic
- Definitions by demonstration: provide a visual reference such as a drawing, illustration, video,
etc. (aka ostensive)
- by paraphrase: lengthen – the process that makes something longer
- Stipulative: prescribes meaning within a given (LEGAL) document
"Easement" means easement granted after May 4, 1970.”
Types of definition depend on:
- the nature of the concept to be defined
- the purpose of the definition
- the information available
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 - the requirements of the user
Previous printed version New electronic version
labour (or labor) must be encoded main entry : labour
grammatical data : n
synonym : labor
grammatical data : n
high frequency (HF) must be encoded main entry : high frequency
grammatical data : n
synonym : HF
grammatical data : n
abbreviated form of : high frequency
high water: double must be encoded main entry : double high water
grammatical data : n
etc.
Best practices for definitions:
A terminological definition must meet the following requirements:
 Reference to a system: the definition inserts the concept into a concept system.
Example bicycle: land-vehicle used for transportation, having two wheels, a frame and a seat,
which is pedal-driven and human-powered
 Conciseness: the definition is concise, clear, and brief but still containing all the essential distinguishing
characteristics.
Example original definition:
Term: ageing Definition: Gradual rise in strength due to physical change in metals and alloys, in
which there is breakdown from supersaturated solid solution and lattice precipitation over a
period of days at atmospheric temperature.
poor shortened form: Term: ageing Definition: Gradual rise in strength due to physical change
in metals and alloys.
good shortened form: Term: ageing Definition: Rise in strength in metals and alloys in which
there is a breakdown from super-saturated solid solution.”
 Affirmativeness: the definition states what the concept is, rather than what it is not.
Example trailer Definition: Non-mechanically propelled vehicle.
 Noncircularity: the definition does not use words whose definitions refer back to the concept in
question, nor does it begin with the term itself.
Example: textiles Definition: Products of the textile industry.
 Absence of tautology - the definition is not a paraphrase of the term, but rather a description of the
semantic features of the concept. Avoid the following:
Example: textiles Definition: Products of the textile industry.
 Substitutability - Use of term of the same part of speech that - the definition begins with a term of
the same part of speech as the term being defined so that the term can be replaced by the
definition within text without changing the sentence.

Other tips:
-Mind the defining vocabulary/entailed terms (the language should not be
(unnecessarily) obscure :
- Mind definitional views: develop a concept system
- Front the definiendum and use a “definitor” or link to equate definiendum to definiens (X
is a Y; X includes A + B)
- the definiendum should be expressed by the same part of speech as the definiens
- The definition of the concept should not contradict other definitions in the same
concept system / field
Worst practices for definition:

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  circularity: using a concept (C1) while defining another (C2), when the definition of C2 involves
use of C1
Example:
 textile: a type of fabric that is woven
 fabric: a type of textile (cf. ISO 1995)
 tautology: using several parts of the definiendum in the definiens
Example:
 uniform movement: movement that occurs uniformly (cf. ISO 1995)
 negation: defining by specifying what is absent
Example:
Health is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (Note WHO’s definition, which is
acceptable: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not not
merely the absence of disease or infirmity)
- incompleteness: insufficient statement of characteristics Influenza is a viral infection (no
differentiating characteristics? There are so many viral infections)
- multiple definitions: explaining more than one term in a definition
Exercise: Here are some definitions of medical concepts from THE MERCK MANUAL (1997). Which ones
fit the above recommendation and which do not? Why?

1.Influenza (flu) is a viral infection that causes a fever, runny nose, cough, headache, a feeling of illness
(malaise), and inflammation of the lining of the nose and airways.
2.An intracranial hemorrhage is bleeding inside the skull.
3.The term psychosomatic disorder has no precise definition. Most often, the term is applied to physical
disorders thought to be caused by psychological factors. However, no physical disorder is caused
exclusively by psychological factors. Rather, a physical disorder has a necessary biologic component – a
factor essential for the disease to occur.
4. Paraneoplastic syndromes are the remote effects of cancer (most commonly lung and ovarian cancer)
on many different functions of the body, often those of the nervous system.
5. Shy-Drager syndrome is a disorder of unknown cause in which many parts of the nervous system
degenerate.

EXTRA: read and consider.

Facts and objects have innumerable properties, some of which are expressed in conceptual
features, which are considered as more or less extended units of information. Not all of the features are
of interest for experts when they form a concept encompassing a particular extension (facts or objects)
in their expert domain; only salient features (FS), as opposed to latent features (FL), are. The latter are
features associated to an extension but generally not expressed as such in human dictionaries. Latent
features are often implied by and inherited through other features. The latent features might
nevertheless be important in natural language processing lexicons or ontologies, for example for use in
applications capable of drawing inferences. However, they are not expressed in terminological
dictionaries, therefore they are not considered salient in that case. Latent features may also be features
relating to the extension that are possessed by individuals as part of their background knowledge, but
are not of interest to the domain under consideration. For instance, the fact that a container is used to
promote a brand is something one may know about that object, but which is totally irrelevant in the
domain of waste management, where what matters are the main functions of the object in that domain,
such as conditioning, transportation and storage of goods, or the fact that they are a large part of waste
and that they have to be valorized by industrials themselves. These latter features are thus considered
salient. (Selja Seppälä, 2009, “A Proposal for a Framework to Evaluate Feature Relevance for
Terminographic Definitions”, Workshop on Definition Extraction 2009 – Borovets, Bulgaria, pages 47–53)