definer

plural definers

1. One who or that which defines something, or provides a definition.

   It served as a key definer of national character, which was in Zelter's time emerging out of a combination of folk and elite traditions […]

   2017, Celia Applegate, The Necessity of Music: Variations on a German Theme, page 47

   1 more example

   Leaving aside the abundance of negativity for the time being, in aggregate these attempts at definition speak to the multitude of linguistic phenomena characteristic of language hybridity in multilingual settings, albeit explained with differing emphases by different definers.

   2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 7