Extended Definitions in Essays and Speeches

Extended Definitions in Essays and Speeches In a paragraph, essay, or speech, an extended definition is an explanation and/or illustration of a word, thing, or concept. An extended definition, says Randy Devillez, can be as short as a paragraph or two or as long as several hundred pages (such as a legal definition of obscene) (Step by Step College Writing, 1996). As B.F. Clouse explains below, an extended definition can also serve a persuasive purpose. See Examples and Observations below. 60 Essay Topics: Extended DefinitionDefinitionHorismus Etymology From the Latin, boundary Examples of Extended Definitions A Definition of a Gentleman, by John Henry NewmanA Definition of a Jerk, by Sydney J. HarrisGifts, by Ralph Waldo EmersonHappiness, by Nikos KazantzakisLists and Anaphora in Nikki Giovannis View of HomeThe Meaning of Home, by John Berger Observations An extended definition may explain the words etymology or historical roots, describe sensory characteristics of something (how it looks, feels, sounds, tastes, smells), identify its parts, indicate how something is used, explain what it is not, provide an example of it, and/or note similarities or differences between this term and other words or things.Introduction to an Extended Definition: FamilyWe are all aware that family is a word which eludes definition, as do other important things, like nation, race, culture, gender, species; like art, science, virtue, vice, beauty, truth, justice, happiness, religion; like success; like intelligence. The attempt to impose a definition on indeterminacy and degree and exception is about the straightest road to mischief I know of, very deeply worn, very well traveled to this day. But just for the purposes of this discussion, let us say: one’s family are those toward whom one feels loyalty and obligation, and/or from whom one derives iden tity, and/or to whom one gives identity, and/or with whom one shares habits, tastes, stories, customs, memories. This definition allows for families of circumstance and affinity as well as kinship, and it allows also for the existence of people who are incapable of family, though they may have parents and siblings and spouses and children. An Extended Definition of DamnedYoure all damned! Damned! Do you ever stop to think what that word means? No, you dont. It means endless, horrifying torment! It means your poor, sinful bodies stretched out on red-hot gridirons in the nethermost, fiery pit of hell, and those demons mocking ye while they wave cooling jellies in front of ye. You know what its like when you burn your hand, taking a cake out of the oven, or lighting one of them godless cigarettes? And it stings with a fearful pain, aye? And you run to clap a bit of butter on it to take the pain away, aye? Well, Ill tell ye: therell be no butter in hell!Composing an Extended Definition of DemocracySometimes, . . . particularly when we are thinking seriously about a complicated concept, such as democracy, we use a definition as the basis for an entire theme; that is, we write what may be called an extended definition.Purposes of an Extended DefinitionMore often than not, an extended definition informs. Sometimes you inform by clarifying something that is complex. . . . A definition can also inform by bringing the reader to a fresh appreciation of something familiar or taken for granted... Sources Stephen Reid,  The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers, 2003 Marilynn Robinson, Family.  The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought. Houghton Mifflin, 1998 Ian McKellen as Amos Starkadder in  Cold Comfort Farm, 1995 Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren,  Modern Rhetoric, 3rd ed. Harcourt, 1972 Barbara Fine Clouse,  Patterns for a Purpose. McGraw-Hill, 2003