of words--those you hear or see printed, do not
understand the meaning of, but yet feel you should know. Obtain and
confirm a grasp of them by the successive processes used with words in the
preceding lists.

<The Definition of Words>

Another means of buttressing your command of your present vocabulary is to
define words you use or are familiar with.

Do not bewilder yourself with words (like _and, the_) which call for
ingenuity in handling somewhat technical terms, or with words (like
_thing, affair, condition_) which loosely cover a multitude of
meanings. (You may, however, concentrate your efforts upon some one
meaning of words in the latter group.) Select words with a fairly definite
signification, and express this as precisely as you can. You may
afterwards consult a dictionary for means of checking up on what you have
done. But in consulting it think only of idea, not of form. You are not
training yourself in dictionary definitions, but in the sharpness and
clarity of your understanding of meanings.

About the only rule to be laid down regarding the definition of verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs is that you must not define a word in terms of
itself. Thus if you define _grudgingly_ as "in a grudging manner,"
you do not dissipate your hearer's uncertainty as to what the word means.
If you define it as "unwillingly" or "in a manner that shows reluctance to
yield possession," you give your hearer a clear-cut idea in no wise
dependent upon his ability to understand the word that puzzled him in the
first place.

Normally, in defining a noun you should assign the thing named to a
general class, and to its special limits within that class; in other
words, you should designate its genus and species. You must take care to
differentiate the species from all others comprised within the genus.
You will, in most instances, first indicate the genus and then the
species, but at your convenience you may indicate the species first. Thus
if you affirm, "A cigar is smoking-tobacco in the form of a roll of
tobacco-leaves," you name the genus first and later the characteristics of
the species. You have given a satisfactory definition. If on the other
hand you affirm, "A cigar is a roll of tobacco-leaves meant for smoking,"
you first designate the species and then merely imply the genus. Again you
have given a satisfactory definition; for you have permitted no doubt that
the genus is smoking-tobacco, and have prescribed such limit