COMFTF-03 Definition (Power Point)-1[1]

8/14/2019 COMFTF-03 Definition (Power Point)-1[1]

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COMFTF-03COMFTF-03DefinitionDefinition

Dr. David F. Maas


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DefinitionEtymologyTwo Latin words Preposition de with relation to

Noun finis the end

A definition sets the limits or boundswithin which we can use a term or word.


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DefinitionFormal DefinitionGoes back to Aristotle.Structure of formal or classical definition:A Logical/Formal, or ClassicalDefinition locates its subject in a more

general class and then proceeds to pointout the characteristics which make it differ from the other members in that class.


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DefinitionWe locate term called species in relation toa group ( genus) that includes severaldifferent species and then try to say whatquality or qualities ( differentia) thatdistinguish the item to be defined from the

other species.


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Definition Necessary and Supportive characteristics Necessary: essential for centralcharacteristics:Hammer: A tool used for poundingSupportive characteristics: not necessary

for definitionusually consisting of a metal head andhandle.


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DefinitionLexicographers (Dictionary) aim: notuniversal definition but merely provide ahelpful description of a common type of hammer.Hammer-a tool used for pounding

(Species) (Genus) (Differentia)Necessary Characteristics


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DefinitionSupportive Characteristics:Having a claw on one endHaving a metal headHaving a magnetized head to pick up tacks


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DefinitionSupportive Characteristics- indicatespecific subgroups-extending theclassification and broadening the base of information.


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Definition ShelterManmade shelter Natural shelter

House teepee igloo cave

Bungalow ranch house hollow log


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DefinitionAvoid Circular definitionRepeating the word itself in the definition

A washing machine is a machine that washes.A statistician is a person who makes a professionout of using statistics.

The causes of war are the several factors thatresult in armed conflict.(Note that armed conflict and war are synonyms.


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DefinitionDescription:A fire truck has ladders and hoses on it andis fairly large and painted red or yellow.A circle consists of a figure covered by aline fixed at one end and moving in acircle.


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DefinitionExample: consists of identifying species or subspecies of the genus.

Children learn the meanings of words byrepeated examples.

Nouns are words like horse, typewriter,

disease, or happiness.Religion is what involved in Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism.


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COMFTF-03 Definition

Definition by synonym:Because English has botha Latin and a Germanic Tributary, we can readily

find words of the same approximate meaning:To kill means to murder or to mortify.To buy means to purchase or to acquire.

To define means to distinguish.To kiss means to osculate.To spit means to expectorate.


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DefinitionSynonyms have limitations.

No two words can ever have the samemeaning.Can do no more than approximate.


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DefinitionMetaphor: a comparison in which thecharacteristics, properties , and structure of

something we can see are projected uponsomething we cant see.Figures of speech

SimilesAnalogies


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DefinitionThough never exact, metaphors arerevealing.

If we say a girl is catty we may suggestthat she has some of the characteristics of acat(sneakiness, mercurial temperament,

etc) but we do not suggest she has four legs and whiskers.


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DefinitionMetaphors are used for their picturemaking qualities, not for their scientific

accuracy.Slang is language that takes off its coat,spits on its hands, and goes to work.

Poetry is the lava of the imagination.Some have described marriage as a long,dull meal with the dessert coming first.


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DefinitionMetaphor God, You are my rock and my shield.I am the vine, you are the branches.Metaphor not used to limit language but toextend the definition.

Never used as a substitute for a classicaldefinition.


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Definition Negation:Love is not making out in the baseball

dugout.Depression is not being abnormal or crazy.It does not consist of having just any bad

or upsetting feeling.Depression does not consist of just feelinganxious or nervous.


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Definition Negation2. Characterized as sitting around anddoing nothing or mostly passive solitaryactivities like watching TV or napping.3. Characterized by loss of energy. Evengoing to work may seem overwhelming.


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Definition Negation cannot be exhastive because it cannot be exhaustive:

Music is neither silence nor is it noise, but aharmonic arrangement of sounds on a

background of silence.Communism is not a political party, nor amilitary organization, nor an ideological crusade,

but a gigantic conspiracy to enslave mankind.


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DefinitionDefinition by Etymology: consists of defining something by telling how it came

to be or where it originated from.Sincere has an interesting etymology.Over the years I have heard two stories which

illustrate the term. Two Latin terms:sin, meaning without and cerus, meaningwax make up the composite term.


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DefinitionEtymology of Sincere:One story illustrating the concept involves

a pottery vendor who seals up the cracks of his pottery with cerus or wax to cover upthe flaws.The other story involves marble columnswhose flaws became masked with resin,

pitch, or a type of wax.


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DefinitionEtymology of sincere.In both of the preceding examples,the artisanintended to deceive by concealing the cracks or fissures with cerus, wax, or paraffin.Sincere, on the other hand, means having nothing tohide-pure from the inside out.Insincere suggests that someone has attempted tocover up or conceal a flaw, making somethingappear quality when in truth, has abundant flaws.


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DefinitionExemplification: consists of taking an individualcase to represent the whole.

When the prisoners of war came home from Viet Nam, the news networks could not possiblyreport on every single case history, butconcentrated on one or two cases, such as LeoThorsness or Senator Mc Cain.When doing a biblical study on patience, thestudent might want to concentrate on the exampleof Job.


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DefinitionDefinition of Explication: consists of enlarging upon bare statements and

attempts to clarify a term by explaining it.


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DefinitionBarbara Lawrence:explication of sadistic aspects of Pornographic words:

Not all obscene words, of course, are as implicitly sadistic

or denigrating to women as these, but all that I know seemto serve a similar purpose: to reduce the human organism(especially the female organism) and human functions(especially sexual and procreative) to their least organic,most mechanical dimension; to substitute a trivializing or deforming resemblance for the complex human reality of what is being described.

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COMFTF-03 Definition (Power Point)-1[1]