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”).
Meanings
A kind of macro in source code that replaces one text string with another wherever it occurs.
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. 1999, Ian Joyner, Objects unencapsulated: Java, Eiffel, and C++, page 309:
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. 1996, James Gosling, Henry McGilton, The Java Language Environment:
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Translations (1)
fi define-makro (macro that replaces one text string with another)
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”).
Meanings
To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly.
Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work. 2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
Rings[…]very distinct and well defined. 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:
the defining power of an optical instrument
(obsolete) To settle, decide (an argument etc.).
These warlike Champions, all in armour shine, / Assembled were in field the chalenge to define. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
To express the essential nature of something.
Cantor defined a one-to-one correspondence between the points of the square and the points of the line segment. Every point in the square was associated with a single point in the segment; every point in the segment was matched with a unique point in the square. 2013 May-June, Brian Hayes, “Crinkly Curves”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 178:
Your past mistakes do not define who you are.
I define myself as a techno-anarchist.
To state the meaning of a word, phrase, sign, or symbol.
The textbook defined speed as velocity divided by time.
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.
Person 1: Is she good at math?
Person 2: Define "good." If you mean if she is faster than the average middle schooler at multiplication, then yes. If you mean if she is able to do multivariable calculus, then no.
To demark sharply the outlines or limits of an area or concept.
Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept? 2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 164:
Neither Marx nor Engels ever clearly defined the concept of class, and the last chapter of Volume III of Capital, which was to treat of this question, breaks off after three or four paragraphs. 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 353:
ro defini (state meaning of) · hu meghatároz (state meaning of) · ru обознача́ть (demark the limits of) · nl determineren (to determine) · fi määrittää (express the essential nature of) · nl karakteriseren (express the essential nature of) · sv definiera (state meaning of) · it descrivere (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · ga sonraigh (to determine) · nl omschrijven (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · uk ви́значити (state meaning of) · pt definir (state meaning of) · nl kenschetsen (express the essential nature of) · bg дефинирам (state meaning of) · uk визнача́ти (to determine) · fi täsmentää (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · pt definir (express the essential nature of) · bg опреде́лям (to determine) · es definirse (to determine) · it definire (express the essential nature of) · pt definir (to determine) · ru описа́ть (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · pl definiować (state meaning of) · es demarcar (demark the limits of) · eo determini (to determine) · fi määritellä (state meaning of) · nl definiëren (express the essential nature of) · fa تعریفتن (to determine) · cmn 定义 (state meaning of) · nn definere (state meaning of) · nl afbakenen (demark the limits of) · nl bepalen (to determine) · grc ὁρίζω (to determine) · mi tautuhi (to determine) · bg обозначавам (demark the limits of) · bg формулирам (state meaning of) · ja 定義する (state meaning of) · es describir (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · pl określić (to determine) · fr définir (state meaning of) · es definir (to determine) · cmn 界定 (express the essential nature of) · es determinar (to determine) · gl definir (state meaning of) · it definire (to determine) · bg очертавам (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · nn definera (state meaning of) · ru определя́ть (to determine) · fi määrittää (to determine) · es definir (express the essential nature of) · it definire (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · it determinare (to determine) · he הגדיר (to determine) · eo kaŭzi (express the essential nature of) · hu definiál (state meaning of) · fi määritellä (express the essential nature of) · es definir (demark the limits of) · uk ви́значити (to determine) · cs definovat (state meaning of) · pl zdefiniować (state meaning of) · fr définir (demark the limits of) · fi selvittää (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · ru описа́ть (state meaning of) · uk визнача́ти (state meaning of) · eo difini (state meaning of) · it definire (state meaning of) · fi määritellä (demark the limits of) · es aclarar (express the essential nature of) · ru опи́сывать (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · nb definere (state meaning of) · es definir (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · de bestimmen (to determine) · lv definēt (state meaning of) · pl określać (to determine) · fr déterminer (to determine) · nl beschrijven (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · tr tanımlamak (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · ca definir (state meaning of) · ru опи́сывать (state meaning of) · es definir (state meaning of) · de definieren (describe, explain, make definite and clear) · da definere (state meaning of) · ru определи́ть (to determine) · de definieren (state meaning of) · nl bepalen (demark the limits of) · ast definir (state meaning of) · fi määritellä (to determine) · nl definiëren (state meaning of) · es delimitar (demark the limits of) · ru обозна́чить (demark the limits of) · fi rajata (demark the limits of) · bg изразявам (express the essential nature of)