definitional
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- definitionally adverb
- non-definitional adjective
- self-definitional adjective
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The definitional creep of what we now consider middle age—pushed back, perhaps, because of the increasing delay in starting families—means that it often overlaps with the territory of old age.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025
“Nor has the Government adequately identified which particular provisions, if any, are sufficiently independent of the enjoined definitional provision and thus might be able to remain in effect,” reads the ruling.
From Salon • Aug. 25, 2024
“The goal here is to narrow these definitional issues and to present a united front to the Chinese.”
From Washington Post • May 1, 2023
The vote is in some ways definitional: What is the mission of a women’s college?
From New York Times • Mar. 14, 2023
Were they to define life as an "undiscovered force" simply, their definition would manifestly lack in brilliancy what it would conclusively make up in precision and accuracy of definitional statement.
From Life: Its True Genesis by Wright, R. W.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
