What does it mean to define?

I shall approach this blog entry with a slightly more informal (i.e. more personal) tone today. One of the reasons being that today has been one of the most hectic and peculiar days that I have experienced thus far. Not only do I know why I feel this way, but I also do not know why. As if I was there but not really there. As if time passed without my knowledge, and the very essence of motion and energy simultaneously sped up and slowed down. As peculiar a feeling it may have been (or still is), it led me to ponder, and think about a multitude of things that had not previously crossed my mind.

What are definitions? For some reason, and today only, I came to think how on earth the English language or any language for the matter, could develop a word that defines itself? It is like a lexical form of inception to me. Define chocolate: noun [mass noun] a food in the form of a paste or solid block made from roasted and ground cacao seeds, typically sweetened and eaten as confectionery - but is that the definition? My definition of chocolate is different to that, same with the millions of others who would conjure up some other sort of definition should they be told to 'define' the word. So what is definition?

The exact meaning of a word.

Really? The exact meaning of a word. Is there such a thing as the 'exact meaning of a word.' I do not think so. I feel that there is art to be found in the defining of terms, actions, events, and any other phenomena that exist in the world today. To define something exactly is impossible, therefore it requires great skill and precision.

The way we define things, it results in the way we treat, react, and respond to terms...because of what they mean. Dull means unimaginative, boring, monotonous, dry etc. that is why when someone calls you 'dull,' you react in the way you do. It is the literary connotation that dull has with these negative expressions that determines the way we respond to it. 

Now I just realised that this whole blog entry may seem totally confusing or disconnected or appear as something like that of a rant by someone who feels as if they just made a revelation of some sort. But I do hope that what I tried to convey in this whatever-you-want-to-call-it has been slightly understood and its meaning possibly appearing through the text.

L. 

Image source: http://melissadileonardo.tumblr.com/post/65127182175/two-things-that-define-you-patience-and-attitude