Recognizing Faulty Definitions Chapter 4.a Recognizing Faulty Definitions This tutorial will help you to recognize faulty definitions and construct good ones.

Air ball means, in basketball, a missed shot. Based on your reading of this chapter, is this definition faulty because it is too broad, too narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted, obscure, circular, or fails to capture the essential meaning of the word?

Air ball means, in basketball, a missed shot. Too broad. All air balls are missed shots but not all missed shots are air balls. (An air ball is a shot that misses the rim, net, and backboard entirely, hitting nothing but air.) The definition is thus too broad because it includes things that should not be included--namely, missed shots that do hit the rim, net, or backboard.

Work is love made visible. (Kahlil Gibran) Based on your reading of this chapter, is this definition faulty because it is too broad, too narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted, obscure, circular, or fails to capture the essential meaning of the word?

Work is love made visible. (Kahlil Gibran) Figurative. The definition isn't meant to be taken literally. (It would clearly be both too broad and too narrow if it were.) Rather, the writer is offering a figurative or metaphorical "definition" that reveals what he sees as the deeper significance of work.

Lepidopterology means the systematic study of lepidopterological matters. Based on your reading of this chapter, is this definition faulty because it is too broad, too narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted, obscure, circular, or fails to capture the essential meaning of the word?

Lepidopterology means the systematic study of lepidopterological matters. Circular. The definition is unhelpfully circular because it essentially "defines a word in terms of itself"--that is, defines a word by simply repeating the word being defined ("No means no") or by offering a close cognate that can be understood only by someone who already knows the meaning of the word being defined. (In case you're curious, lepidopterology is the study of butterflies and moths.)

Newlywed means a recently married woman. Based on your reading of this chapter, is this definition faulty because it is too broad, too narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted, obscure, circular, or fails to capture the essential meaning of the word?

Newlywed means a recently married woman. Too narrow. The definition fails to include some things that should be included, namely, recently married men.

Welfare means taxing hardworking individuals and families and giving the money to those too lazy to work. Based on your reading of this chapter, is this definition faulty because it is too broad, too narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted, obscure, circular, or fails to capture the essential meaning of the word?

Welfare means taxing hardworking individuals and families and giving the money to those too lazy to work. Slanted. This is a negative, biased definition of welfare. It's purpose is to create a negative attitude towards welfare, not to provide a neutral, objective definition that captures the standard meaning of the term.

Football means the principal sporting event watched at most Super Bowl parties. Based on your reading of this chapter, is this definition faulty because it is too broad, too narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted, obscure, circular, or fails to capture the essential meaning of the word?

Football means the principal sporting event watched at most Super Bowl parties. Fails to capture the essential meaning of the word. The definition is neither too broad nor too narrow because it does apply uniquely and correctly to football. Nevertheless, the definition is faulty because it fails to capture those features that are truly essential to football and that distinguish it from everything else.

Dirty joke means a lascivious, obscene, or libidinous jape, witticism, raillery, or other risible vocalization intended to provoke laughter or amusement. Based on your reading of this chapter, is this definition faulty because it is too broad, too narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted, obscure, circular, or fails to capture the essential meaning of the word?

Dirty joke means a lascivious, obscene, or libidinous jape, witticism, raillery, or other risible vocalization intended to provoke laughter or amusement. Obscure. The definition uses sesquipedalian -- er, big, fancy –words that few readers would understand.

Mouse means a button-activated device that when rolled along a flat surface enables an operator to manipulate an on-screen pointer and thereby select operations and add, change, or delete text and graphics. Based on your reading of this chapter, is this definition faulty because it is too broad, too narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted, obscure, circular, or fails to capture the essential meaning of the word?

[This is the end of the tutorial] Mouse means a button-activated device that when rolled along a flat surface enables an operator to manipulate an on-screen pointer and thereby select operations and add, change, or delete text and graphics. Lacking in context. Since mouse has other meanings in other contexts, the definition should indicate that this is the meaning of the word in computer lingo. X [This is the end of the tutorial]