Definition Cannot Stand Alone
By: Jim Labate
Tags: Writing Prompts, Definition, Writing, Writing Tips, Writing Life

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Usually when I tell my students that they’re going to write a definition essay, they look at me as if I’ve lost my mind. They think I’m crazy because definitions are typically one sentence long, and these students can’t imagine writing an entire essay on the meaning of a single word or phrase. And, quite frankly, they shouldn’t be expected to do so. Definition is a writing technique that cannot stand alone; definition essays must include at least one other technique to be truly effective. Choosing the correct technique, then, is paramount.

Narration — For example, when Frank Deford decided to write a book about cystic fibrosis, he could have written a scientific textbook to explain the disease’s causes and effects and treatments. Instead, however, Deford used narration to tell the story of his daughter Alexandra who suffered and died from this horrible disease (Alex, the Life of a Child). Personalizing the disease in this way allowed Deford to reach readers who may not have read the technical cause-and-effect approach.

Description — When Margaret Atwood wrote an essay on pornography, she, too, chose an alternate approach. She began by implying that most people associate pornography with “naked bodies and sex,” but she explained that pornography today, unfortunately, is much more dangerous. She describes vivid scenes of pornography that involve not just sex but also violence, torture, rape, and death (20–26).

Example — Gilbert Highet wrote an essay about the word “kitsch.” He begins by explaining that the word could be applied to “anything that took a lot of trouble to make and is quite hideous” (472). Then, he brings that word to life by quoting examples from fiction, from poetry, and from drama. Interestingly, Highet feels, in effect, that this type of literature is so bad that it is entertaining: “It is horrible, but I enjoy it” (472).

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Comparison/Contrast — In her essay entitled “The Tapestry of Friendship,” Ellen Goodman focuses, obviously, on friendship, but she does so by pointing out the similarities and differences in friendship between males and females. She begins by explaining that males don’t really have friends; they have “sidekicks” or “partners” or “buddies” (238). Then, she makes her point by making observations such as the following: “buddies bonded, but friends loved”; “buddies hang tough together; friends hang onto each other”; and “buddies seek approval, but friends seek acceptance” (238–239).

Division and Classification — Gloria Naylor tackled one of the most racially charged words in the English language when she wrote her essay entitled “Mommy, What Does ‘Nigger’ Mean?” Then, rather than define the word from a negative, white perspective, she defines the word from a positive, black perspective, and she does so using division and classification. She explains that the word has one meaning when used in the singular form and an entirely different meaning when used in the plural form. In addition, the word has another meaning altogether when used by a woman as a possessive adjective (108–111).

Process Analysis — Humorist Suzanne Britt Jordan defines the word “fun” in her essay “Fun. Oh Boy. Fun. You Could Die from It.” Jordan doesn’t, however, tell her readers “how to” have fun; rather, she explains “how” fun happens: “It is a mystery. It cannot be caught like a virus. It cannot be trapped like an animal . . . When fun comes in on little dancing feet, you probably won’t be expecting it. In fact, I bet it comes when you’re doing your duty, your job, or your work” (267).

Cause and Effect — The word “Spanglish” is obviously a combination of the words “Spanish” and “English,” and Janice Castro defines Spanglish as “common linguistic currency whenever concentrations of Hispanic Americans are found in the United States” (259–60). In addition, she explains both the cause and the effect of Spanglish. She writes that this “free-form blend” of languages is popular because certain English words or phrases are easier to use and better reflect the faster pace of American life. As a result, “Spanglish has become a widely accepted conversational mode.”

Persuasion — A persuasive essay that uses definition also needs one of the techniques mentioned earlier to be effective. For instance, Bruno Bettelheim’s essay “The Holocaust” defines that word, but he argues that the standard definition is insufficient. Thus, he also uses description to say that what the Germans did to the Jews during World War II was the “most callous, most brutal, most horrid, most heinous mass murder” (435).

If you’ve ever browsed through a dictionary, you know that it contains much more than just definitions. A good dictionary also contains the proper pronunciation of the word, the various forms of the word, the part — or parts — of speech, the alternate meanings, the stories behind the words, examples of usage, and, in some cases, illustrations and photographs. These added features, of course, bring the words to life. Your definition essays will also pulsate with life if you go beyond the dictionary definition to explain the meaning of a word or phrase in new and interesting ways.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. “Pornography.” The Mercury Reader: A Custom Publication (Hudson Valley Community College), Vol. 2, edited by Janice Neuleib, Kathleen Shine Cain, Stephen Ruffus, and Maurice Scharton, Pearson, 2001, pp. 20–26.

Bettelheim, Bruno. “The Holocaust.” The Bedford Reader. 6th ed., edited by X.J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron, Bedford, 1997, pp. 434–37.

Castro, Janice. “Spanglish.” Muller and Wiener, pp. 259–61.

Deford, Frank. Alex, the Life of a Child. Viking Press, 1983.

Goodman, Ellen. “The Tapestry of Friendship.” Muller and Wiener, pp. 238–39.

Highet, Gilbert. “Kitsch.” Readings for Writers, 9th ed., edited by Jo Ray McCuen, and Anthony C. Winkler, Harcourt Brace, 1998, pp. 471–78.

Jordan, Suzanne Britt. “Fun, Oh Boy. Fun. You Could Die from It.” Muller and Wiener, pp. 266- 67.

Muller, Gilbert H., and Harvey S. Wiener, editors. The Short Prose Reader. 10th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2003.

Naylor, Gloria. “Mommy, What Does ‘Nigger’ Mean?” The Simon and Schuster Short Prose Reader, edited by Robert Funk, Robert, Susan X. Day, and Elizabeth McMahan. Prentice Hall, 1997, pp. 108–11.