define
verb
Simple meaning
To state the meaning of a word, phrase, sign.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihfynSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪˈfaɪn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Determine the essential quality of
To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly.
Determine the nature of
To express the essential nature of something.
To describe, explain, or make definite and clear; used to request the listener or other person to elaborate or explain more clearly his or her intended meaning of a word or expression.
To demark sharply the outlines or limits of an area or concept.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Give a definition for the meaning of a word
Used this way, define is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Clearly characterized or delimited.
Any process serving to define the shape of something.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Poorly stated or described.
Accurately stated or described.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Precise.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.