definiens

English

Etymology

From Latin, substantive use of dēfīniēns (“[a] defining”), present active participle of dēfīniō.

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /dɪˈfɪnɪɛnz/[1], /deːˈfiːnieːns/, /diːˈfaɪnɪɛːnz/
  • Audio (southern England)(file)

Noun
Examples
  • A lake is a large, landlocked, naturally occurring stretch of water.

definiens (plural definientia)

  1. (semantics) The word or phrase that defines the definiendum in a definition.
    • 1977, Nelson Goodman, The Structure of Appearance, third edition, D. Reidel, →ISBN, page XLIV:
      Yet such predicates will not in general even be interpreted over the domain of objects over which the definientia range.
    • 2011, Michail Peramatzis, Priority in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 196:
      In these definitions, then, there is only one part of the definiens, the form (e.g. being a human soul), which is prior to the kind and its matter.

References
  1. John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “definiens”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Further reading

Latin

Etymology

Present participle of dēfīniō.

Participle

dēfīniēns (genitive dēfīnientis); third-declension one-termination participle

  1. limiting, terminating

Declension

Third-declension participle.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masc./Fem. Neuter Masc./Fem. Neuter
Nominative dēfīniēns dēfīnientēs dēfīnientia
Genitive dēfīnientis dēfīnientium
Dative dēfīnientī dēfīnientibus
Accusative dēfīnientem dēfīniēns dēfīnientēs
dēfīnientīs		 dēfīnientia
Ablative dēfīniente
dēfīnientī1		 dēfīnientibus
Vocative dēfīniēns dēfīnientēs dēfīnientia

1When used purely as an adjective.

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