ABSTRACT
If you were to look up the word style in a good dictionary, you’d find nu-merous meanings for the word, depending on whether you applied it tolife, clothing, or a particular way of speaking or behaving. But, all writers know that using a dictionary definition anywhere in any paper is taking the easy way out. It is often a mark of laziness, some critics say, for a writer to resort to a dictionary definition for some term or concept. It makes far more sense to define the words, phrases, or concepts you use in a singular fashion, that is, define them as they apply to your particular piece of writing or to your particular understanding.
