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Define vs Consider - What's the difference?

define | consider |

As verbs the difference between define and consider

is that define is to determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly while consider is (label) to think about seriously.

As a noun define

is (computing|programming) a kind of macro in source code that replaces one text string with another wherever it occurs.

define

English

(Definition)

Verb

(defin)
  • To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly.
  • * Sir (Isaac Newton)
  • Ringsvery distinct and well defined .
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Lee S. Langston
  • , title= The Adaptable Gas Turbine , passage=Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo'', meaning ''vortex , and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.}}
  • (obsolete) To settle, decide (an argument etc.).
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , IV.3:
  • These warlike Champions, all in armour shine, / Assembled were in field the chalenge to define .
  • To express the essential nature of something.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
  • , volume=101, issue=3, page=178, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Crinkly Curves , passage=Cantor defined a one-to-one correspondence between the points of the square and the points of the line segment. Every point in the square was associated with a single point in the segment; every point in the segment was matched with a unique point in the square.}}
  • To state the meaning of a word, phrase, sign, or symbol.
  • To describe, explain, or make definite and clear.
  • To demark sharply the outlines or limits of an area or concept.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April, author=(Jan Sapp)
  • , volume=100, issue=2, page=164, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Race Finished , passage=Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?}}
  • (mathematics) To establish the referent of a term or notation.
  • Derived terms

    * definable * definer

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (computing, programming) A kind of macro in source code that replaces one text string with another wherever it occurs.
  • * 1996 , James Gosling, Henry McGilton, The Java Language Environment
  • From the computer programming perspective, Java looks like C and C++ while discarding the overwhelming complexities of those languages, such as typedefs, defines , preprocessor, unions, pointers, and multiple inheritance.
  • * 1999 , Ian Joyner, Objects unencapsulated: Java, Eiffel, and C++ (page 309)
  • Anyone who has attempted to do OO programming in a conventional language using defines will find out that it is impossible to realize the benefits easily, if at all, without compiler support.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    consider

    English

    Alternative forms

    * considre (archaic)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To think about seriously.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • Thenceforth to speculations high or deep / I turned my thoughts, and with capacious mind / Considered all things visible.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-03-15, volume=410, issue=8878, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Turn it off , passage=If the takeover is approved, Comcast would control 20 of the top 25 cable markets, […]. Antitrust officials will need to consider Comcast’s status as a monopsony (a buyer with disproportionate power), when it comes to negotiations with programmers, whose channels it pays to carry.}}
  • (label) To think of doing.
  • (label) To assign some quality to.
  • * (1800-1859)
  • Considered as plays, his works are absurd.
  • *
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=2 citation , passage=Mother very rightly resented the slightest hint of condescension. She considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom,
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War. […]’}}
  • (label) To look at attentively.
  • * Bible, (w) xxxi. 16
  • She considereth a field, and buyeth it.
  • (label) To take up as an example.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.}}
  • To debate or dispose of a motion.
  • To have regard to; to take into view or account; to pay due attention to; to respect.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Consider , sir, the chance of war: the day / Was yours by accident.
  • * (1628–1699)
  • England could grow into a posture of being more united at home, and more considered abroad.

    Usage notes

    * In sense 2, this is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See .

    Synonyms

    * (think about seriously) bethink, reflect on * (think of doing) think of, bethink * (assign a quality) deem, regard, think of; see also * (look at closely) regard, observe * (debate a motion) deliberate, bethink * (include in an estimate or plan) take into account