{ "model": { "rank": 2917, "code": "thing-q101072", "model_id": "vr.tr.definition", "name": "definition", "purpose": "Let an agent explain definitions and their kinds, relay rules for good definitions from logic and lexicography, describe formal definitions in ontologies and science, and distinguish definitions from descriptions and explanations.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.MED", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q101072/", "tier": 2, "score": 94, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "circular definition", "previously published description or definition", "intensional definition", "molecular cell type definition", "ontology concept definition", "Definitions of philosophy", "nature of education", "legal definition", "definition of indigenous people", "mathematical definition", "Real meaning", "synthetic definition", "operational definition", "working definition", "statistical definition", "definition of planet", "data element definition", "Wikidata property definition", "definition of religion", "recursive definition", "lambda calculus definition", "ostensive definition", "circumscription", "coordinative definition", "definitions of Japanese war crimes", "definitions of abortion", "extensional definition", "lexical definition", "precising definition", "stipulative definition", "Technical definition", "theoretical definition", "enumerative definition" ], "aliasCount": 33, "merged": 33, "knownIn": 94, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.definition-attribute", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q101072", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q101072", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T03:25:34Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q101072", "registryId": "vr.tr.definition", "name": "definition", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.MED" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q101072/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.definition", "name": "definition", "purpose": "Let an agent explain definitions and their kinds, relay rules for good definitions from logic and lexicography, describe formal definitions in ontologies and science, and distinguish definitions from descriptions and explanations.", "definition": "A statement of the meaning of a term, concept or object, whether intensional by stating necessary and sufficient conditions, extensional by listing members, ostensive by pointing, stipulative, lexical or operational, used in dictionaries, law, mathematics, science and ontologies where concept definitions such as cell type definitions follow formal patterns; definitions can be circular or defective, are governed by logical rules, and their limits are debated in philosophy, including the many rival definitions of philosophy itself.", "what_it_is_for": "Fixing the meaning of terms.", "affordances": [ "explain kinds of definition", "relay rules and pitfalls", "describe formal definitions", "distinguish from descriptions" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Genus and differentia", "Kinds by method", "Logical rules", "Formal and informal uses" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; statements of meaning.", "visual_identification": [ "Statement of meaning", "Intensional, extensional, ostensive, stipulative, lexical, operational, ontology concept definitions; circular definitions", "A description characterises without fixing meaning; an explanation gives causes; an axiom is assumed" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "intensional definitions", "extensional and enumerative definitions", "ostensive definitions", "stipulative and precising definitions", "lexical definitions", "operational definitions", "recursive and mathematical definitions", "ontology concept definitions such as molecular cell type definitions", "defective definitions such as circular definitions" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "proposition", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is studied in", "target": "logic", "why": "and philosophy of language" }, { "relation": "is used in", "target": "dictionary", "why": "as lexical definitions" }, { "relation": "is formalised in", "target": "ontology", "why": "for concepts" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "ISO 704 and ISO 1087 on terminology and definitions", "Ontology definition conventions such as genus-differentia patterns", "Legal drafting rules for statutory definitions" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Circular and too broad or narrow definitions", "Confusing definitions with descriptions", "Presenting contested philosophical definitions as settled" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a definition is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition of definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a definition, and how does it differ from a description, an explanation or an axiom?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about definitions in general, a kind of definition or a specific term?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "kinds", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds.", "findings": [ { "id": "kinds-finding", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are intensional, extensional, ostensive, stipulative, lexical and operational definitions?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific kind?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "craft", "name": "Craft", "description": "Writing definitions.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "rules", "name": "Rules", "description": "Rules.", "findings": [ { "id": "rules-finding", "name": "Rules", "description": "Rules.", "questions": [ { "text": "What rules make a good definition, and what faults such as circularity should be avoided?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "formal", "name": "Formal", "description": "Formal definitions.", "findings": [ { "id": "formal-finding", "name": "Formal", "description": "Formal.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are definitions written in ontologies, terminology standards and science, such as cell type definitions?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits ontology?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "domains", "name": "Domains", "description": "Domains.", "rationale": "Sources.", "layers": [ { "id": "law", "name": "Law", "description": "Law and lexicography.", "findings": [ { "id": "law-finding", "name": "Law", "description": "Law.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do statutes and dictionaries define terms?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "mathematics", "name": "Mathematics", "description": "Mathematics.", "findings": [ { "id": "mathematics-finding", "name": "Mathematics", "description": "Mathematics.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do mathematical and recursive definitions work?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits mathematical definition?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Philosophy and history.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "philosophy", "name": "Philosophy", "description": "Philosophy.", "findings": [ { "id": "philosophy-finding", "name": "Philosophy", "description": "Philosophy.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do philosophers from Socrates and Aristotle to Wittgenstein say about definition, and why is philosophy itself defined in rival ways, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral and attributed?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did the theory of definition develop in logic and lexicography?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the history of logic?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should intensional definition and operational definition be separate entries?", "How should terminology standards be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming defective forms and domain conventions; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "work, medium or creative form", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a definition, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain definitions and their kinds, relay rules for good definitions from logic and lexicography, describe formal definitions in ontologies and science, and distinguish definitions from descriptions and explanations.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted", "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: circular definition, previously published description or definition, intensional definition, molecular cell type definition, ontology concept definition, Definitions of philosophy, nature of education, legal definition, definition of indigenous people, mathematical definition, Real meaning, synthetic definition.", "33 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 94 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a definition, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says", "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "What is seen is a copy or a performance, not the work. Recognising the work means recognising the content through whatever is carrying it." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "circular definition", "previously published description or definition", "intensional definition", "molecular cell type definition", "ontology concept definition", "Definitions of philosophy", "nature of education", "legal definition", "definition of indigenous people", "mathematical definition", "Real meaning", "synthetic definition" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 94 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 33 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one definition from another, and a definition from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a definition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a definition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a definition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a definition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a definition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a definition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a definition sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a definition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a definition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a definition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a definition from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a definition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a definition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a definition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a definition passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a definition between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a definition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a definition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a definition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a definition, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a definition is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a definition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a definition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a definition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a definition says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a definition contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a definition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a definition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a definition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a definition and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a definition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a definition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a definition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "work-and-manifestation", "name": "Work, version and copy", "description": "Which level of definition a statement is about.", "rationale": "The work, the edition, the file and the copy in hand are four things; rights and content attach to different ones.", "layers": [ { "id": "levels", "name": "Levels of the thing", "description": "Work, expression, manifestation and item, in plain terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "level-rules", "name": "What belongs at each level", "description": "Which facts hold for the work and which only for one copy.", "questions": [ { "id": "level-rules-q01", "text": "For definition, which facts belong to the work itself, which to a version, and which to a single copy?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "level-rules-q02", "text": "What identifier exists at each level, and which one is being cited?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "versions", "name": "Versions, editions and variants", "description": "How versions differ and which is canonical to whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "version-record", "name": "Versions and canonicity", "description": "Differences that matter and who calls one authoritative.", "questions": [ { "id": "version-record-q01", "text": "Which versions or editions of definition exist, and how do they differ substantively?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "version-record-q02", "text": "Who treats which version as authoritative, and for what purpose?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "authorship-and-rights", "name": "Authorship, rights and permitted use", "description": "Who made definition and what may be done with it.", "rationale": "Rights are jurisdictional, time-limited and attached to a level, and an agent that ignores that will copy what it may not.", "layers": [ { "id": "authorship", "name": "Authorship and contribution", "description": "Who contributed what, and in what capacity.", "findings": [ { "id": "contribution-record", "name": "Contributors and roles", "description": "The people and bodies behind it, with their roles.", "questions": [ { "id": "contribution-record-q01", "text": "Who authored or contributed to definition, in what roles, and how is that attested?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "contribution-record-q02", "text": "Where authorship is disputed or anonymous, what is recorded instead?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "rights", "name": "Rights and permissions", "description": "Which rights subsist, where, until when, and what they permit.", "findings": [ { "id": "rights-record", "name": "Rights, term and permitted acts", "description": "The regime in force and what it allows.", "questions": [ { "id": "rights-record-q01", "text": "What rights subsist in definition, in which jurisdictions, and until when?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "rights-record-q02", "text": "Which acts are permitted without further permission, and which must an agent refuse?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a definition came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a definition and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a definition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a definition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a definition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a definition is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a definition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a definition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a definition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }