Meanings
- humorousrareuncountableThe act of creating, usually by making up, definitions.
Are we entitled to so define, or is Hook bogged down in a form of "persuasive definitioneering"?
1968 (1972?), "Definitioneering: An Article-review of Sidney Hook's Academic Freedom," The Philosophy Forum, supplement 11, nos. 1-2 (Summer 1972): S77-S953 more examples
...danger is that we may become bogged down in 'definitioneering'; that is, we may become advocates of special definitions that are arbitrarily stipulated.
1973, Paul Kurtz, The Humanist Alternative: Some Definitions of Humanism, Prometheus Books, page 177Makkonen argues that the rationale of the rights concerned should always be taken as a point of departure, rather than an attempt at a priori 'definitioneering'.
2001, Catherine Brölmann, "T. Makkonen, Identity, Difference and Otherness. The Concepts of People, Indigenous People and Minority in International Law," International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, ISSN 1385-4879, 2001, vol. 8; issue 1, pg. 93"...when you try to define it it becomes a surreal puddle of definitioneering," said drummer Brandon Weaver.
2006 December 29, John Wenzel, “We make the music we want to make”, in Denver Post
Origin
Blend of definition + engineering or from definition + -eer + -ing
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
definitioneering. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/definitioneering
“definitioneering.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/definitioneering. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “definitioneering,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/definitioneering.
Source: definitioneering on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.