Definitions Quote by Willard Van Orman Quine

What should we gain by a definition, as it can only lead us to other undefined terms?

— Ludwig Wittgenstein

A definition is nothing else but an explication of the meaning of a word, by words whose meaning is already known. Hence it is…

— Thomas Reid

Definitions are temporary verbalizations of concepts, and concepts- particularly difficult concepts- are usually revised repeatedly as our knowledge and understanding grows.

— Ernst Mayr

A definition may be very exact, and yet go but a very little way towards informing us of the nature of the thing defined.

— Edmund Burke

What is a good definition? For the philosopher or the scientist, it is a definition which applies to all the objects to be defined,…

— Henri Poincare

Definitions.... are never really needed, and rarely of any use

— Karl Popper

Odd that we think definitions are definitive.

— Larry Wall

Definitions belong to the definer, not the defined.

— Toni Morrison

“FV: Annandale defines 'definition' as "an explanation of the signification of a term." Yet Oxford, on the other hand, defines it as "a statement…

— Mort W. Lumsden

Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.

— Toni Morrison

Definitions would be good things if we did not use words to make them.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“Since all terms that are defined are defined by means of other terms, it is clear that human knowledge must always be content to…

— Bertrand Russell