A stipulative definition is a type of

definition A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definitio ...

in which a new or currently existing term is given a new specific meaning for the purposes of

argument An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialect ...

or discussion in a given context. When the term already exists, this definition may, but does not necessarily, contradict the dictionary (

lexical Lexical may refer to: Linguistics * Lexical corpus or lexis, a complete set of all words in a language * Lexical item, a basic unit of lexicographical classification * Lexicon, the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge * Lexica ...

) definition of the term. Because of this, a stipulative definition cannot be "correct" or "incorrect"; it can only differ from other definitions, but it can be useful for its intended purpose.Hurey, Patrick J. ''A Concise Introduction to Logic'',

Cengage Learning Cengage Group is an American educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets. It operates in more than 20 countries around the world.(Jun 27, 2014Global Publishing Leaders ...

, For example, in the riddle of induction by

Nelson Goodman Henry Nelson Goodman (7 August 1906 – 25 November 1998) was an American philosopher, known for his work on counterfactuals, mereology, the problem of induction, irrealism, and aesthetics. Life and career Goodman was born in Somerville, Ma ...

, " grue" was ''stipulated'' to be "a property of an object that makes it appear green if observed before some future time ''t'', and blue if observed afterward". "Grue" has no meaning in standard English; therefore, Goodman created the new term and gave it a ''stipulative definition''.

On stipulative definitions

Stipulative definitions of existing terms are useful in making theoretical arguments, or stating specific cases. For example: *Suppose we say that to love someone is to be willing to die for that person. *Take "human" to mean any member of the species ''Homo sapiens''. *For the purposes of argument, we will define a "student" to be "a person under 18 enrolled in a local school". Some of these are also

precising definition A precising definition is a definition that contracts or reduces the scope of the lexical definition of a term for a specific purpose by including additional criteria that narrow down the set of things meeting the definition. For example, a dicti ...

s, a subtype of stipulative definition that may not contradict but only extend the

lexical definition The lexical definition of a term, also known as the dictionary definition, is the definition closely matching the meaning of the term in common usage. As its other name implies, this is the sort of definition one is likely to find in the dictiona ...

of a term.

Theoretical definition A theoretical definition defines a term in an academic discipline, functioning as a proposal to see a phenomenon in a certain way. A theoretical definition is a proposed way of thinking about potentially related events. Theoretical definitions cont ...

s, used extensively in

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

and philosophy, are similar in some ways to stipulative definitions (although theoretical definitions are somewhat normative, more like

persuasive definitions A persuasive definition is a form of stipulative definition which purports to describe the true or commonly accepted meaning of a term, while in reality stipulating an uncommon or altered use, usually to support an argument for some view, or to cr ...

). Many holders of controversial and highly charged opinions use stipulative definitions to attach the emotional or other

connotation A connotation is a commonly understood cultural or emotional association that any given word or phrase carries, in addition to its explicit or literal meaning, which is its denotation. A connotation is frequently described as either positive o ...

s of a word to the meaning they would like to give it; for example, defining "murder" as "the killing of any living thing for any reason". The other side of such an argument is likely to use a different stipulative definition for the same term: "the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought" or "the premeditated killing of a human being". The lexical definition in such a case is likely to fall somewhere in between. When a stipulative definition is confused with a lexical definition within an argument there is a risk of

equivocation In logic, equivocation ("calling two different things by the same name") is an informal fallacy resulting from the use of a particular word/expression in multiple senses within an argument. It is a type of ambiguity that stems from a phrase havi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stipulative Definition Definition

On stipulative definitions

See also

References