Defining

How to spell defining

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce defining

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does defining mean?

1. verbStating or describing the exact meaning, nature, or scope of something.
2. adjectiveServing to identify the essential character of something; decisive or distinguishing.

Defining in a sentence

• verb

  The committee spent the morning defining the terms of the contract.

• adjective

  Winning that contract was the defining moment of her career.

• verb

  She had trouble defining exactly what the new role would involve.

• adjective

  Honesty was the defining feature of his leadership.

Where does defining come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb definire, meaning 'to set a boundary' or 'to limit', which was built from de- ('completely') and finire ('to finish or bound'), itself rooted in finis, the Latin noun for an 'end' or 'boundary'. The sense moved naturally from marking the physical edge of something to marking the conceptual edge of a meaning, so to define a word is to draw a fence around exactly what it does and does not mean. English took the verb in through Old French definer in the 1300s, and the participle 'defining' developed alongside it as the verb settled into the language. The same finis root sits behind a whole family of common words such as 'finish', 'final', 'finite', and 'confine'. Knowing that fin means 'boundary' helps explain the single 'f' and the 'fin' spelling at the heart of the word.

How the word is built

• de- (down, completely)
• fin (boundary, end, from Latin finis)
• -ing (present participle/gerund suffix)