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Here are ways to help clarify meaning of your term for the reader of your definition essay:
Analysis: Divide the subject into parts and define each part separately.
Classification: According to dictionary definitions, what classes does the subject belong to?
Comparison: The unfamiliar may be defined by showing its likeness to the familiar or its
difference from it.
Details: What are the physical characteristics, traditional thoughts, and other distinguishing
attributes that describe the subject of the paper?
Examples and Incidents (stories): Narrate illustrations that can clarify a group, theory, or
object.
Negation: Mention what it is not in order to clear the ground for what it is.
Origins and Causes: Where did the subject come from? What is the background information?
What is the history of the subject?
Statistics and facts, quotes, articles, and other supportive information
Results, Effects, and Uses: Discuss the consequences and uses of the subject.
Sample Definition Essay = _______________ (put a good title here)
A wise man once said that love is a wonderful thing. Although this statement leaves sparse
room for argument, it does little to define what love is beyond the vague realm of wonderful. It
is my duty as a devout romantic to embark upon the seemingly difficult task of defining love
by looking at the history, explaining what love is not, and examining the uses of love and the
results of that usage. But what is this thing called Love?
(Origin and Causes)
The origin of the word is probably the most logical place to start. As with many words in the
English language, love is a derivative of the Latin word "causemajoraproblemus" which means
"You're miserable when you got it and miserable when you don't." The word was created to
explain the biological phenomenon that existed when certain individuals came into contact
with each other and either remained together or went about their lives separately. Regardless of
the outcome, the relationship was usuallycharacteristic of throat lumps, knotted stomaches,
weak knees, temporary loss of language, sweaty palms, dizzyness, sneezing, and occasional
nausea. Belligerent insanity also resulted. History clearly illustrates this. Can we ever forget
the face that launched a thousand ships? Federally expressingVan Gogh's ear? The
construction of Le Tour Eiffel? All of these were results of love and love lost.
(Negation)
Star-crossed lovers have stated that love is not hand nor foot nor any part belonging to a man.
Matrimonial ceremonies also claim that love is not jealous or boastful. Let it be stated here that
love also is not a gourmet dish, a domesticated animal, or a latest trend. Love is not a strategic
defense mechanism nor the best kept secret at the Pentagon. Love is not another seasoning to
bottle and stick on the dust-lined shelves of the spice rack. Love is not to be confused with
adhesive tape.
Instead, love is a great counterpart to late, evening thunder storms on hot July nights. Love
goes well with cold pizza on picnic blankets. Love is cold, wet sand between bare toes. Love is
a capitalistic sell-all for novels, Top-40 pop songs, summer movies, and greeting cards.
In its simplest terms, love is a four-letter word. Much like other words of similar letter make
up, when expressed it can evoke laughter, pleasure, pain, anger, and virtually any wave of
reaction. Love also can be confused with feelings of indigestion and gas. Houses have been
built, burned, and banished because of love.
Here are 5 sample definition introductions. Which one is the strongest and why? Which one is
the weakest and why? Which one is copied/bought from the Internet?
(1)The Deadweight of the Family
Somehow, someway being an inconvenience was a specialty that I excelled at as a child. It
was never my intent to hinder someone’s work or cause stress but simply to help and ease the
strain of their labors. It seemed that I could never avoid being the cause of a problem. Instead
of aiding in the solution I was always a burden to someone. And trying not to hurt my feelings
they never told me I was in the way, so it took me some time to realize when to help and when
to stay out. Of the many times I could recall being a burden “or major pain” as my mom would
say was when I thought I was being responsible. My sister always teased me by saying “Truly
being a burden is not being a hindrance and not causing a massive workload to anyone.” My
dad tried to cheer me up by saying “An individual becomes a burden when they slow a
person’s ability to work efficiently, causing great inconvenience, anger and stress.” It didn’t
matter to me because I knew deep down inside I was the aggravation of the household.
Like the time when I was six and was asked to do a simple task such as getting the mail. My
mom was expecting a very important letter from her grandmother; it was an engraved gold
locket. The day was cool and the wind was gusting like a hurricane coming in from the south.
So quickly I dashed to the mailbox which was maybe 30 steps always but the wind had slowed
me down, greatly. Finally when I reached the mailbox I gripped the post with one hand and
opened the door with the other. Suddenly when I opened the mailbox all of the mail shot out
and was blown all over the street. Mail was everywhere, some flew over the trees, a few glided
down the street, a couple skidded across the sidewalk into the neighbor’s yard and the rest
down the road. The locket wasn’t lost but everything else was, like my sister’s college
acceptance letter, my dad’s bills and my report card as well. Sure they we mad and yes they did
yell but we retrieved most of the blown away mail and life resumed as normal.
(2)Overcoming The Impossible
My heart was pounding, and my hands were shaking. But when the six foot five, two
hundred and eighty pound monster of a man tried to plow his way through me with the stolen
merchandise, I lifted him clear off his feet and slammed his helpless body onto the shinny tiled
floor at the front of the store. When it was all over, one of my coworkers, Sandy, who
witnessed the exciting event said “your muscles must have been running on pure adrenaline in
order to body slam a man twice your size!”
There are several interesting changes that take place in the human body when it
produces adrenaline due to a person experiencing a fearful event or the pressures of a thrilling
physical challenge. “Adrenaline is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands to provide a surge
of energy when a human is in danger and needs to react quickly. The adrenal hormones
produced help to control blood sugar, blood pressure and immunity. Adrenaline is secreted to
pump up these internal operations to prepare the body to take defensive actions. The body
reacts by dilating the pupils to increase vision, pumping up the blood and sugar levels, and
redistributing blood away from the skin and inner organs.”(Ray, Linda. "What Are the Causes
of Adrenaline Rushes? EHow.com”). In her article, Linda Ray talks about the chemical actions
of adrenaline in the human body. Just as important, is the mental state of mind a person will
enter when the adrenaline hits the bloodstream. The mind will become extremely focused
visually and everything will appear to be in slow motion. Other senses such as sound and smell
become faint and almost nonexistent due to the fact the brain becomes solely focused on what
is visual, therefore the body may have extra time to react to any potential dangers.
In the extraordinary story about Tom Boyle Jr., Jeff Wise writes about how an ordinary
man is able to lift an automobile to free a young cyclist after being run over by an out of
control car. After watching the horrifying accident, Tom runs to the vehicle to help the boy.
“Without stopping to think, Boyle reached under the frame of the car and lifted. With a sound
of groaning metal, the chassis eased upward a few inches. "Mister, mister, higher, higher,"
Holtrust screamed. Boyle braced himself, took a deep breath, and heaved. The front end lifted
a few more inches. "'OK, it's off me," they boy called out, his voice tight with pain. "But I can't
move. Get me out!" The driver of the car, 40-year-old John Baggett, pulled Holtrust free. At
last, about 45 seconds after he'd first heaved the car upward, Boyle set it back down. Under
acute stress, the body's sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for sustained, vigorous
action. The adrenal gland dumps cortisol and adrenaline into the blood stream. Blood pressure
surges and the heart races, delivering oxygen and energy to the muscles. It's the biological
equivalent of opening the throttle of an engine.”(Wise, Jeff. "When Fear Makes Us
Superhuman: Scientific American").
(3)__________________ (insert a title)
“Given a choice between grief and nothing, I'd choose grief.”(Faulkner) Grief is not
something that people openly talk about. It is a hushed subject that is only mentioned in time as
the pain that the grief that a person has experienced dissipates. Grief manifests itself in many
ways but in general it is the loss of something or someone that one has or had an affinity for.
For instance, a little girl who cries over her favorite animal who has passed is a manifestation
of grief or a wife who, before his time, buries her husband. The child who is so consumed with
grief leashes out in anger; for he does not understand why some things in life happen to
someone with such innocence. Grief is a terrible feeling and it is something that everyone who
walks this earth experiences to some degree some time or another. There are many reasons for
grief but very few ways that it shows itself, such as anger, depression, and in some cases some
people do not grieve for the loss that they have experienced, just to name a few.
For instance, anger is a manifestation of grief and is a highly volatile emotion. It slowly
takes a hold of a person like a fire with its flames licking every inch of their being from the
inside out. It is all consuming. Anger caused by grief causes a person to be very unpredictable
and their actions show accordingly. People who are totally enmeshed in the pain and anger of
their loss tend to lash out at anyone or anything. “My grief lies all within, and these external
manners of lament are merely shadows to the unseen grief that swells with silence in the
tortured soul.”(Shakespeare). Angry people carry their grief within until it bubbles out to the
top and explodes on whomever or whatever is around. That is why letting grief manifest in
such a way is so dangerous. There is very little rational thinking when one is grieving to begin
with but when this person copes with it by letting anger consume them they become a walking
emotion. Meaning the person who is experiencing such is highly unpredictable, more times
often than not rational in thought, and in rare extremes poses a danger to themselves and
others. It is hard to see light at the end of the tunnel when so consumed with such a strong
emotion. “O death, where is thy sting?”(Bible 961) One can imagine how death is a welcomed
thought. As the old saying goes, “Time heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no
longer the same persons. Neither the offender nor the offended are any more
themselves.”(Pascal) In time one learns how to cope with such things.
(4)Success: The Myth
Do you know someone rich and famous? Is he confident, popular, and joyful all of the time—
the epitome of mainstream success? Or, on the other hand, is he stressed, having second
thoughts about his life choices, and unsure about the meaning of his life? I am willing to be
that it is the second one. Mainstream marketing and media have effectively brainwashed our
society into accepting a false, even potentially dangerous definition of success. Marketers want
us to believe that having lots of money, living in a big house, and owning all of the latest cars,
fashions, and technology is the key to happiness, and hence, success. This overstated, falsely
advertised myth is hardly ever the case in real life. True success requires respect, appreciation,
integrity, and patience—all of which are traits that by human nature are genuinely difficult to
attain—especially in the face of modern marketers who relentlessly deceive us, control our
thoughts, and usurp our independence in order to increase their bottom line.
(5)Dear Mr. Grandfather Clock
Look out! Here comes another year to pass us by. Still “he who is of calm and happy nature
will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age
are equally a burden.” (Plato,http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/burden.html). A
burden is something that can be difficult to handle, or to carry out in one’s own mind. However
a burden can be easy to deal with depending on how we see the burden, how we relate to it,
and how we react. There are many things that can burden a person; one’s own age can be a big
one! When we are young we can’t wait to reach certain ages for example to be 16 and drive or
21 and drink. Although once we reach a ripe old age, we begin to wish we could turn back the
hands of time. The middle ages seem to elude us and fade away like the colors of an old t-shirt
that has been washed one too many times. So the burden of ages is just a figment of our
imagination and really is no burden at all it’s just life.
First I can remember being in such a hurry to want to grow up, I always got sick of hearing
“you’re too young for that”. When I was a little girl, I would watch my mother put on her
make-up every time we were going out, and I sometimes would ask her, as she glided the
lipstick tube across her lips to paint them an amber rose color, “Mommy could I put some lip
stick on?” Again, I was told “you’re too young for that” back then, it wasn’t so much of a
burden to me and I would just go on with my day. However, as the years went on and I became
a teenager my interests changed. For example I could not wait to drive. I would jump at the
chance every chance I got. For instance, we were on our annual family vacation, driving down
to Clearwater beach Florida. My dad would always drive, and when he got tired my mom
would always take over for him. I was about 15years old at this point, and had my learners
permit. I thought I was the stuff for having my permit, and nothing could stop me. Until I
asked him “dad if you get too tired of driving I’ll drive for you” Once again I heard the words
“you’re too young for that”. At that point it was such a burden to me! Because, I was at the
legal driving age, but I felt like I was still being treated like a baby. I wanted to scream at the
top of my lungs, so everyone in the world could hear me “You always think I’m too young!”
Finally, I couldn’t wait to be 21 to be considered a true adult because the legal age to go
anywhere I wanted.
However, as we get older our hair become grey, and our disposition seems to be more
relaxed; we start to wish to be young again. For example my dad is always saying “boy I wish I
was your age again”, knowing that it is certainly impossible. Nevertheless, I will be
complaining that my body aches or I have some sort of ailment and soon I start to sound like
him when I say, “I wish I was your age again”. Obviously, I know they truly don’t want to be
my age again; it’s just something that they say as they get older.