Other Methods of Defining

Defining by negation: One approach to explaining the meaning of a term is by showing what it is not. Defining by negations serves to limit the meaning of a term, identifying restrictions and exclusions (Clark 298). Legal definitions often reflect such restrictions on the meaning of a term.

Defining by classification: In this approach a term is first related to a class of similar items, and then the term is distinguished from the other members of the class (Clark 298). For instance, some people might distinguish pornography from erotica within the class of graphically sexual material by defining pornography as sexually graphic material that objectifies or denigrates women while erotica celebrates masculine and feminine human sexuality.

Defining by function: Sometimes it is useful to define a term by explaining how it works (Clark 299). Processes, like evolution or nuclear reactions, may be more clearly defined by explaining their function.

Works Cited

Clark, Irene L. The Genre of Argument. Boston: Heinle, 1998.

ENGL1010 Composition I