cf #29: how to write good definitions
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Hey 👋
Last week I read an article from the lexicographers at Merriam Webster, who added 455 new definitions to their dictionary in October. For example, one of them was oobleck: “a mixture of corn starch and water that behaves like a liquid when at rest and like a solid when pressure is applied.” Sounds fun!
The article made me think of how lexicographers are not the only ones who define things for a living: for content marketers, that’s kind of our job, too.
You are a lexicographer and you may not even know it
If you work in content marketing, I guarantee you are wearing a lexicographer’s hat without realising it. Every time you:
Write or edit a “What is an [x]?” paragraph in a blog post or guide
Optimise content for a featured snippet
Summarise what a piece of product functionality is and does
Clarify a technical concept to a non-technical audience
Talk about a new project or feature
Describe what your company is about
etc.
you are likely using one or more definitions to get your message across.
The problem with definitions is that writing a good one is extremely hard. You need to be both surgically precise and extremely concise + know how to distil a concept to its essence without introducing new terms + keep everything clear and accessible + be original enough to avoid plagiarism… and ideally do all of the above in 20 words or less.
One thing that helps me write the first draft of a definition is this framework:
[term] is a ___ that ___.
Start from the term (word or phrase) you need to define
Name the class of object/concept the term belongs to
Add a defining characteristic or function that makes the term different from others in the same class
For example: oobleck (term) is a mixture of corn starch and water (class) that behaves like a liquid when at rest and like a solid when pressure is applied (defining characteristic).
💡 A practical example 💡
If you ask Google what an open-ended question is, you might see the following featured snippet definition:
Who wrote that? Yours truly, back in 2018 😉
It’s one of the hundreds of definitions I worked on during my Hotjar tenure.Note how it follows the term → class → defining characteristic/function structure: “open-ended questions (term) are questions (class) that cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’, and instead require the respondent to elaborate on their points (defining characteristic).”
Other examples I worked on:
A heatmap (term) is a graphical representation of data (class) where values are depicted by color (defining characteristic). Heatmaps help marketers visualise how visitors interact with individual website pages (function).
Usability testing (term) is a method of testing the functionality of a website, app, or other digital product (class) by observing real users as they attempt to complete tasks on it (defining characteristic).
Hotjar (term/brand) is the behavior analytics software (class) that makes it easy to go beyond traditional web analytics and understand what people are really doing on a website (function).
🔥 pro tip: imagine someone just asked “Alexa, what is [x]?.” Now pretend to be Alexa and read them*** the definition out loud: does it sound like something a voice assistant would say? Is it clear? Is it the right length? Have you introduced words that will also need looking up?
***I swear it helps if you do it in a robotic voice 🤖
Before reading that Merriam Webster article, I’d written hundreds of definitions—but never stopped to consider that knowing how to write a good one is a valuable content marketing skill.
I hope this newsletter inspires you to do the same!, and bonus points if you reply and show me some definitions you’ve worked on 😉