definition
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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10 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "definition", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "definition" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "definition" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
definition is aEnglishnoun. It means: A statement of the meaning of a word, word group, sign, or symbol; especially, a dictionary definition. Pronounced /ˌdɛf.ɪˈnɪʃ.ən/. It ranks #2,574 in English word frequency. Often confused with definitive and definitions.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | definition |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌdɛf.ɪˈnɪʃ.ən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #2,574 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for definition is 10 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌdɛf.ɪˈnɪʃ.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,574 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 15 documented wrong-spelling variants for definition, with forms such as "ddefinition", "deffinition", and "defiintion". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "definitive", "definitions", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English diffinicioun, from Middle French definition, from Latin dēfīnītiō, from dēfīniō. Equivalent to define + -ition. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is definition, spelled D-E-F-I-N-I-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A statement of the meaning of a word, word group, sign, or symbol; especially, a dictionary definition.
- 2A clear instance conforming to the dictionary or textbook definition.
- 3A statement expressing the essential nature of something; formulation
- 4The action or process of defining.
- 5The act of defining; determination of the limits.
- 6A product of defining.
- 7The action or power of describing, explaining, or making definite and clear.
- 8Clarity of visual presentation, distinctness of outline or detail.
- 9Clarity, especially of musical sound in reproduction.
- 10Sharp demarcation of outlines or limits.
- 11The degree to which individual muscles are distinct on the body.
- 12A statement which provides a previous declaration with a value or body of a subroutine (in the case of function).
- 13A statement that establishes the referent of a term or notation.
- 14The part of a cryptic clue which defines but does not indicate the solution.
Etymology
From Middle English diffinicioun, from Middle French definition, from Latin dēfīnītiō, from dēfīniō. Equivalent to define + -ition.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddefinition,deffinition,defiintion,definiiton,definision,definitino,definitionn,definitoin,definittion,definnition,defintiion,defniition,deifnition,dfeinition,edfinition
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for definition
Misspelling Variants of "definition"
Frequency rank: #2,574 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter D in our English index: