define
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Middle English definen, from Old French definer, variant of definir, from Latin dēfīniō (“limit, settle, define”), from dē + fīniō (“set a limit, bound, end”)
Pronunciation [edit]
Verb [edit]
define (third-person singular simple present defines, present participle defining, simple past and past participle defined)
- To determine.
- (obsolete) To settle, decide (an argument etc.). [16th-17th c.]
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.3:
- These warlike Champions, all in armour shine, / Assembled were in field the chalenge to define.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.3:
- To express the essential nature of something.
- I define myself as a techno-anarchist.
- To state the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or symbol.
- The textbook defined speed as velocity divided by time.
- To describe, explain, or make definite and clear.
- To demark sharply the outlines or limits of an area or concept.
- to define the legal boundaries of a property
Derived terms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
to determine
|
express the essential nature of
state meaning of
describe, explain, make definite and clear
demark the limits of
|
Noun [edit]
define (plural defines)
- (computing, programming) A kind of macro in source code that replaces one text string with another wherever it occurs.
- 1996, James Gosling, Henry McGilton, The Java Language Environment
- From the computer programming perspective, Java looks like C and C++ while discarding the overwhelming complexities of those languages, such as typedefs, defines, preprocessor, unions, pointers, and multiple inheritance.
- 1999, Ian Joyner, Objects unencapsulated: Java, Eiffel, and C++ (page 309)
- Anyone who has attempted to do OO programming in a conventional language using defines will find out that it is impossible to realize the benefits easily, if at all, without compiler support.
- 1996, James Gosling, Henry McGilton, The Java Language Environment
External links [edit]
- define in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- define in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
Anagrams [edit]
Galician [edit]
Verb [edit]
define
Portuguese [edit]
Verb [edit]
define (infinitive: definir)
- Second-person singular (tu) affirmative imperative of definir.
- Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você?) present indicative of definir.
Spanish [edit]
Verb [edit]
define (infinitive definir)
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English verbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English nouns
- en:Computing
- en:Programming
- Galician verb forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Portuguese forms of verbs ending in -ir
- Portuguese verb imperative forms
- Portuguese verb second-person forms
- Portuguese verb singular forms
- Portuguese verb affirmative forms
- Portuguese verb indicative forms
- Portuguese verb third-person forms
- Portuguese verb present forms
- Spanish verb forms
- Spanish forms of verbs ending in -ir
- Spanish verb indicative forms
- Spanish verb singular forms
- Spanish verb third-person forms
- Spanish verb present forms
- Spanish verb imperative forms
- Spanish verb second-person forms
- Spanish verb affirmative forms
- Spanish verb informal forms
