The session was dedicated to definitions, their components and different kinds of definitions.

Quiz & tasks

What are the main kinds of information in a dictionary?

• metadata (date of publishing, abbreviations,...)
• lexical information

Give examples of form information, structure information, content information:

• form information: spelling, pronunciation,...
• structure information: words' construction, word order in a sentence,...
• content information: definition, examples,...

What is the main kind of information which dictionary users are generally interested in?
Depends on what kind of dictionary they use: if they use an orthographical one, they are want to know how to spell a word, if they use a bilingual dictionary, they want to know the translation of a word into a particular language.


Find dictionary definitions of 5 different words of different parts of speech and

• give examples of genus and differentia specifica

'animal': 'a living organism (->genus) which feeds on organic matter, has specialized sense organs and nervous system, and is able to move about and to respond rapidly to stimuli.'( differentia specifica)
'green': 'of the colour (-> genus) between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass.'(-> differentia specifica)
'to run':'move (-> genus) at a speed faster than a walk, never having both or all feet on the ground at the same time.'(-> differentia specifica)
'above': 'at a higher level (-> differentia specifica) than'
'ah': 'an exclamation (-> genus), especially as a part of speech (e.g. ah!, dear me!).'
Define "definition" and "explanation":

A definition gives the meaning of a word whereas an explanation describes detailled the way s.th works.

Example: A definition of a "bicycle" probably describes it as a vehicle which you can move by rotating the pedals, while an explanation gives a detailed description of the way a bicycle actually works.