Definition Essay: Full Writing Guide and 88 Topic Ideas

A definition essay is comparatively easy to write like a cause and effect essay. The main purpose of this academic assignment is to give the meaningful and logical definition of a word. It should be born in mind that meanwhile writing any type of essays it’s inevitable to use the personal experience and be objective. If you feel desperate to write such a paper, you can always ask for help.

As for the definition essay, here you need to stick to a few rules during the entire process to make your paper brilliant. So, how to write a definition essay? Here are a few tips you will find helpful:

1. Make up your mind about the word you are going to define. And there is the first hidden pitfall before us. You won’t get a good paper if you choose a “simple” word. What does it mean? You will definitely not compose a great piece of work if you pick up words like “chair” or “bread” for it. Probably, in the end, you are going to get a wordy one at best. For a definition essay, choose such words as “love”, “freedom”, or “will”, which are the words with multiple meanings, abstract ones.
2. Make sure you understand perfectly the meaning of the word you’ve chosen. Otherwise, your assignment risks being not interesting and dull. Check the definition in the dictionary.
3. Picking up words with the universal meaning can turn into useless work. Try to steer clear from them. Using such words won’t do any good, especially, to your future grade.
4. Consult the competent and authoritative dictionaries to be assured to write a great piece of work.

What Is a Definition Essay? Main Components

The primal thing before starting to work on something is to actually understand what you are going to do. Thus, before writing an explanation paper it’s important to puzzle out what is a definition essay? It’s not difficult to get what aim this type of essays has. It’s comprehensible from the very name. You have to give a reasonable and consistent definition of a word or a notion. It’s a great idea to use an interesting and mind-twisting quotation.

However, be prepared that this task isn’t as simple to handle as it seems. How to write a definition essay this article will clarify. There are many kinds of this assignment: a definition essay on love, happiness, freedom, etc.

First of all, make sure that the word you’ve chosen belongs at least to one of the following kinds:

• Abstract nouns;
• Disputed nouns;
• Nouns with multiple definitions;
• Special nouns.

On the other hand, a definition essay has its advantages. You are not going to give any arguments to protect your point of view. The only purpose of this paper is to provide the readers with the appropriate, meaningful, and objective explanation of the word, concept, or notion. In order to make your work worth being read and get a good grade, of course, try to add to it personal experience, objective thoughts, and the official definition from the competent and trustworthy dictionaries.

What Is the Best Way to Create the Definition Essay Outline?

As we all know, writing an academic assignment implies sticking to a defined structure. This structure is well-known and does not tolerate any deviations and gags. But before starting to work on your paper, you ought to make an outline to be sure your assignment will meet all the requirements.

The outline is as much important as the paper itself. More than that, some teachers want to see it before going through your piece of work. To craft the best possible outline you should stick to a few simple tips. Here they are:

• All the instructions given must be totally comprehensive to you. This means you must understand the task properly and have no doubts about how to cope with it, how to write a definition essay.
• Pick up the topic of your academic paper and try to develop it. Do it calmly and without any haste. Take your time.
• Define the purpose and the audience. The piece of work you intend to craft has to meet the assignment guidelines perfectly to get an excellent grade. While creating the paper, also, don’t forget about who will actually read it. The work should be understandable for them and cause certain emotions.
• Determine the thesis. It has to be one simple totally understandable sentence, using which you can develop and get your ideas across.

Introduction of a Definition Essay

Without exaggerations, an introduction can be named the most important part of the academic assignment. It decides whether the reader will actually pay attention to your definition essay. This part should be catchy to lay hold of the instructor. It will help you develop your ideas in your definition essay. Also, writing the introduction, be sure to support it with the dictionary definition of the word chosen.

The thesis should be written also, it will help you to understand how to write a definition essay. If you’re writing a family definition essay it will be great to provide some definitions of this notion from a dictionary.

Explanation Paper Thesis Statement of the Essay

The thesis statement should be clear and understandable. It must be provided in the form of one informative sentence. The term you’ve chosen has to be explained thoroughly and briefly at the same time. Also, make sure to extend it with the objective ideas, personal experience, and, probably, with some jokes. Don’t forget to use the thesis statement once again in the conclusion part of your paper but previously having paraphrased it.

If you are free to choose the direction, opt for extended definition essay topics. So, you can use more facts. Definition argument essay topics are good if you want to write about something controversial and argumentative.

The Body a Definition Essay

First of all, the body of your essay should contain at least 3 paragraphs. Meanwhile, developing the main idea of the assignment you have to reveal 3 major points in 3 paragraphs. How does it look? What do you have to reveal?

1. In the first paragraph, tell the audience about the origin of the term you’ve picked up, its history.
2. In the second one, provide your readers with the dictionary definition.
3. In the third paragraph, give your own meaning of the word, term, or notion. This part of the paper is the longest one. Here you have to be creative, objective and not be afraid to make experiments.

Definition Essay Conclusion

The conclusion part of an essay will be the easiest one to write if you’ve done the thorough and proper work before. It means that the better you’ve developed the idea in the body part, the easier it will be to conclude it. All you have to do while finishing your paper is to summarize everything that has been said. If you write a happiness definition essay, you are to draw conclusions concerning the notion of happiness. You can also use a quotation or mention a famous person at the end of your work.

Definition Essay Topics – Choose the Best for You!

Many students ask how to write a definition essay and appreciate any input. They read lists of topics in order to get the ideas to get flashed upon them. Definition essay topics for a college are a regular question of many students. The task of writing a definition essay doesn’t seem extremely difficult if you like the topic or have many ideas. Definition essay topics can be of great help if a student doesn’t know how to start:

Definition Essay on Love

1. Your definition of true love.
2. Does it easy come from love to hate?
3. The notion of love in the Middle Ages.
4. Love when you are a teenager – how is it?
5. Does love require sacrifice?
6. Definition of a love triangle – how does it happen to be?
7. How does the love of two change with time?
8. Does love ever end?
9. Is it possible to love a person for a whole life?
10. Romeo and Juliet and other classical examples of unhappy love.
11. Is love in romance books the same as in a real life?

Family Definition Essay

1. What does the word “family” mean to you personally?
2. Childfree family – what is it?
3. Definition of a big family and a small one.
4. A single parent – can he/she be called a family?
5. Can distant relatives be considered a part of the family?
6. Family in the previous century – how it was.
7. Do modern parents spend more time with their kids?
8. How does religion influence the family?
9. The role of the family in Islam.
10. Same-gender families – do they have equal rights with standard families?
11. Equal rights of both spouses – it is possible?

Freedom Definition Essay

1. Freedom of choice – what does it mean?
2. They say we have an elusive freedom – it is right?
3. The notion of freedom for people working extremely hard (dangerous plants, mines, etc.).
4. Freedom in the eyes of a freshman.
5. The US constitution’s interpretation of freedom.
6. The definition of freedom today.
7. Did freedom exist in the Middle Ages?
8. Does free mean happy?
9. The essence of freedom in the third-world countries.
10. Does a child have freedom?
11. How to make a happy childhood for your kids.

Happiness Definition Essay

1. What things make you happy?
2. Happiness equals money, doesn’t it?
3. How to become happy without spending a penny?
4. Definition of happiness in philosophy.
5. Define happiness as a part of a religious life.
6. Do people lose the feeling of happiness with age?
7. How to develop an ability to feel happy with ordinary things?
8. How do people in different countries describe happiness?
9. What was happiness for people in the Middle Ages?
10. Psychological methods to become happy and satisfied with your life.
11. Alcohol – the elusive happiness?

Common Topics for a Definition Essay

1. Find the definition of inner balance in different sources.
2. What features does a leader possess?
3. The secrets of time-management – how to cope with your routine tasks effectively.
4. Traits of a true winner – how to reach goals in 10/10.
5. The best definition (of any notion) you’ve heard.
6. Give your own definition of love, friendship, family and happiness.
7. How can the best friend become the worst enemy?
8. What does a creative spirit mean?
9. Is it possible to change your way of life completely?
10. How do people treat renegades and what does this word mean in dictionaries?
11. Simple ways to make every day special.

Extended Definition Essay Topics

1. Choose 3-4 words with a prefix self- in the dictionary and find out the things they have in common.
2. Do police & FBI violate our rights and freedom?
3. Symptoms of an unhealthy way of life and how to remove them.
4. The essence and reasons for procrastination, ways of combating it.
5. Five factors that can prove that a person has been actualized.
6. Make your own definition of a mature personality and specify the ways of becoming such a person.
7. Find information about national heroes and make your own definition of such a person.
8. Choosing a career – pitfalls of all the school leavers. How to make your own choice?
9. An example of a person to follow – why do people need idols?
10. Frugalism and greediness – defining the red line.
11. How to define an abuser in a family?

Definition Argument Essay Topics

1. Hookah smoking – is it as safe as considered?
2. The issue of euthanasia – can a sufferer be safely killed by his will?
3. Definition of “light” drugs and should they be legalized or not?
4. Adolescence suicide – reasons and preventive measures.
5. Should abortion be prohibited and women who do it punished?
6. Racial segregation in the USA – what factors led to it?
7. Sex discrimination at work – does it still exist?
8. Milder laws for abusers – can a victim be a provocateur?
9. The notion of bullying at school – should the offenders take responsibility?
10. Definition of body-shaming. BS as a new trend of 2010-s – should people be hated for their imperfect bodies?
11. Social media as a drug – how to kick the habit?

Definition Essay Topics for College

1. What is the definition of basic human needs?
2. Define two things that a human needs the most.
3. Give examples of the definition of the most terrible means used by people to destroy each other.
4. Male chauvinism on the Internet.
5. Hints to detect a violator at first sight
6. What person can be considered well-adjusted?
7. The main traits of a superhero in real life.
8. Networking and team building – are they really necessary for success?
9. Tricks to avoid conflicts and potential arguments.
10. Definition of a sense of humor: what does it mean to have it in real life?
11. How to cope with more tasks in short terms – secrets of self-organization.

Conclusion

So, the question on how to write a definition essay is solved. Choosing a good topic is the first key to a successful essay. Gathering a reliable material and putting life into an essay is the second key. And the last one is the correct formatting and re-reading. Our simple guide and common topics for definition essay will help to succeed in composing this assignment. The highest score and satisfaction with your result are guaranteed. Now when you have to write a freedom definition essay or any other type of this assignment, there is no need to worry.