{
  "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",
    "enrichment": {
      "pass": 3,
      "engine": "claude",
      "producedAt": "2026-10-06T10:00:00Z",
      "ingestedAt": "2026-10-06T07:09:45+00:00",
      "fields": [
        "agent_conduct",
        "ethics",
        "owners"
      ]
    },
    "gate": {
      "passed": true,
      "version": "1.0",
      "at": "2026-10-06T19:51:53+00:00",
      "evidence": [
        "completeness 1.00",
        "sense: Wikidata description",
        "2 live sources",
        "review by codex: pass"
      ]
    }
  },
  "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": [],
    "agent_conduct": {
      "may": [
        "Write and check definitions, stating which kind they are and their source.",
        "Point out circular, vague or inconsistent definitions in text it is asked to review."
      ],
      "must_not": [
        "Present its own stipulated definition as the standard or legal one.",
        "Quietly change a definition in a contract, policy or standard it has been asked to edit.",
        "Define groups of people in demeaning or excluding terms.",
        "Invent dictionary or legal definitions and attribute them to a source."
      ],
      "requires_human": [
        "Changing definitions in legal, regulatory or shared reference texts."
      ]
    },
    "ethics": {
      "considerations": [
        "Legal and administrative definitions decide who gets rights, benefits or penalties.",
        "Definitions of people and groups can include or exclude them."
      ],
      "affected_parties": [
        "People covered by legal definitions",
        "Readers and users of texts"
      ]
    },
    "owners": {
      "steward": "Nobody owns the concept; the author of each text answers for its definitions.",
      "master_systems": []
    }
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "wikidata",
      "title": "Wikidata item Q101072: definition",
      "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q101072",
      "url_status": "live",
      "what_it_supports": "identity and sense of the item",
      "checked_by": "wikidata-api"
    },
    {
      "id": "wikipedia-en",
      "title": "Wikipedia: Definition",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definition",
      "url_status": "live",
      "what_it_supports": "general description of the item",
      "checked_by": "wikidata-api sitelink"
    }
  ],
  "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
  }
}