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Glite Dictionary
📝 Clearly stated ✏️ Clear edges
well-defined

well-defined

3 3.8
With clear edges and shapes that are easy to see
  • adjective
  • /ˌwɛl dɪˈfaɪnd/
translation icon : bien delimitado
  • An initiative to provide a vaccine for the entire world must be developed, with a well-defined schedule to ensure progress.
  • well-defined boundaries
  • well-defined mass

Examples

  • In the painting, the artist used bold lines to create well-defined shapes and forms.

  • Notice the contours, strong and well-defined.

    Nighthawks (1981)

  • So you have two very well defined options here.

  • So now we have a well defined density functional.

  • It's probably one of the most well defined relationships that we know in all of sleep science and it is at least a three-part story.

  • While the average cost-per-student figures are available, the content of these figures is less well defined.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Unlike during the Cambridge decade, he never followed a single well-defined research program to its end.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The color of the sweater seemed to be reflected in two well-defined patches on her pale cheeks.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • And in the Arctic Ocean you've got a well defined gyre called the Beaufort Gyre.

  • Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a well-defined enhancing mass in the right parotid gland.

    Academic text (2009)

Synonyms

clear-cut
vswell-defined
27 4.2

Easy to see and understand

emphasizes precise edges and form rather than abstract certainty
well-marked
vswell-defined
2 3.4

Easy to see and follow because of clear signs

points to distinct edges and form themselves rather than just signs
chiseled
vswell-defined
  • US
1 4.8

Having clear, sharp features like a carved statue

describes clear boundaries but is more general than sculpted detail
defined
vswell-defined
3.2

Easy to see because it has clear edges and shape

has identical sense and serves as the primary expression here
delineated
vswell-defined
  • Formal
5.8

Shown or described clearly with exact lines and limits

focuses on clear edges and form rather than depiction detail

Antonyms

vague
230 4.6

Not clear or detailed so you are unsure what is meant

ill-defined
5 6.5

Not clearly or exactly stated

How Defined

well-defined
3 3.8
shaped
2.1
shapeless
12 3.5

Surface Forms

well-defined positive

Morphology

well-defined = define (transparent) = well + define + ed

The compound is a straightforward modifier: 'well' + 'define' (+ '-ed'), meaning 'clearly or distinctly defined'. [Postprocessing: moved 'well' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Well-defined is made of well and defined, and the defined part comes from the pieces de- and fin- which mean 'end' or 'limit', the same root you see in final. So well-defined describes a shape or edge with clear boundaries that are easy to see.