essay about definition

Definition Essay

Definition Essay - Writing Guide, Examples and Tips

14 min read

Published on: Oct 9, 2020

Last updated on: Jan 31, 2024

What is a Definition Essay?

Just as the name suggests, a definition essay defines and explains a term or a concept. Unlike a narrative essay, the purpose of writing this essay is only to inform the readers.

Writing this essay type can be deceivingly tricky. Some terms, concepts, and objects have concrete definitions when explained. In contrast others are solely based on the writerâs understanding and point of view.

A definition essay requires a writer to use different approaches when discussing a term. These approaches are the following:

Denotation - It is when you provide a literal or academic definition of the term.
Connotation - It is when the writer provides an implied meaning or definition of the term.
Enumeration - For this approach, a list is employed to define a term or a concept.
Analogy - It is a technique in which something is defined by implementing a comparison.
Negation - It is when you define a term by stating what it is not.

A single or combination of approaches can be used in the essay.

Definition Essay Types

There are several types of definition essays that you may be asked to write, depending on the purpose and scope of the assignment.

In this section, we will discuss some of the most common types of definition essays.

Descriptive Definition Essay

This type of essay provides a detailed description of a term or concept, emphasizing its key features and characteristics.

The goal of a descriptive definition essay is to help readers understand the term or concept in a more profound way.

Stipulative Definition Essay

In a stipulative definition essay, the writer provides a unique definition of a term or concept. This type of essay is often used in academic settings to define a term in a particular field of study.

The goal of a stipulative definition essay is to provide a precise and clear definition that is specific to the context of the essay.

Analytical Definition Essay

This compare and contrast essay type involves analyzing a term or concept in-depth. Breaking it down into its component parts, and examining how they relate to each other.

The goal of an analytical definition essay is to provide a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the term or concept being discussed.

Persuasive Definition Essay

A persuasive definition essay is an argumentative essay that aims to persuade readers to accept a particular definition of a term or concept.

The writer presents their argument for the definition and uses evidence and examples to support their position.

Explanatory Definition Essay

An explanatory definition essay is a type of expository essay . It aims to explain a complex term or concept in a way that is easy to understand for the reader.

The writer breaks down the term or concept into simpler parts and provides examples and analogies to help readers understand it better.

Extended Definition Essay

An extended definition essay goes beyond the definition of a word or concept and provides a more in-depth analysis and explanation.

The goal of an extended definition essay is to provide a comprehensive understanding of a term, concept, or idea. This includes its history, origins, and cultural significance.

How to Write a Definition Essay?

Writing a definition essay is simple if you know the correct procedure. This essay, like all the other formal pieces of documents, requires substantial planning and effective execution.

The following are the steps involved in writing a definition essay effectively:

Instead of choosing a term that has a concrete definition available, choose a word that is complicated . Complex expressions have abstract concepts that require a writer to explore deeper. Moreover, make sure that different people perceive the term selected differently.

Once you have a word to draft your definition essay for, read the dictionary. These academic definitions are important as you can use them to compare your understanding with the official concept.

Drafting a definition essay is about stating the dictionary meaning and your explanation of the concept. So the writer needs to have some information about the term.

In addition to this, when exploring the term, make sure to check the termâs origin. The history of the word can make you discuss it in a better way.

Coming up with an exciting title for your essay is important. The essay topic will be the first thing that your readers will witness, so it should be catchy.

Creatively draft an essay topic that reflects meaning. In addition to this, the usage of the term in the title should be correctly done. The readers should get an idea of what the essay is about and what to expect from the document.

Now that you have a topic in hand, it is time to gather some relevant information. A definition essay is more than a mere explanation of the term. It represents the writerâs perception of the chosen term and the topic.

So having only personal opinions will not be enough to defend your point. Deeply research and gather information by consulting credible sources.

The gathered information needs to be organized to be understandable. The raw data needs to be arranged to give a structure to the content.

Here's a generic outline for a definition essay:

Provide an that grabs the reader's attention and introduces the term or concept you will be defining.

of why this term or concept is important and relevant.
that clearly defines the term or concept and previews the main points of the essay.

, , or that will help the reader better understand the term or concept.
to clarify the scope of your definition.

or of the term or concept you are defining in detail.
to illustrate your points.

by differentiating your term or concept from similar terms or concepts.
to illustrate the differences.

of the term or concept.
between the types, using examples and anecdotes to illustrate your points.

, or to support your points.

VII. Conclusion

you have defined.
that leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

Are you searching for an in-depth guide on crafting a well-structured definition essay?Check out this definition essay outline blog!

6. Write the First Draft

Drafting each section correctly is a daunting task. Understanding what or what not to include in these sections requires a writer to choose wisely.

The start of your essay matters a lot. If it is on point and attractive, the readers will want to read the text. As the first part of the essay is the introduction , it is considered the first impression of your essay.

To write your definition essay introduction effectively, include the following information:

Start your essay with a catchy hook statement that is related to the topic and the term chosen.
State the generally known definition of the term. If the word chosen has multiple interpretations, select the most common one.
Provide background information precisely. Determine the origin of the term and other relevant information.
Shed light on the other unconventional concepts and definitions related to the term.
Decide on the side or stance you want to pick in your essay and develop a thesis statement .

After briefly introducing the topic, fully explain the concept in the body section . Provide all the details and evidence that will support the thesis statement. To draft this section professionally, add the following information:

A detailed explanation of the history of the term.
Analysis of the dictionary meaning and usage of the term.
A comparison and reflection of personal understanding and the researched data on the concept.

Once all the details are shared, give closure to your discussion. The last paragraph of the definition essay is the conclusion . The writer provides insight into the topic as a conclusion.

The concluding paragraphs include the following material:

Summary of the important points.
Restated thesis statement.
A final verdict on the topic.

7. Proofread and Edit

Although the writing process ends with the concluding paragraph, there is an additional step. It is important to proofread the essay once you are done writing. Proofread and revise your document a couple of times to make sure everything is perfect.

Before submitting your assignment, make edits, and fix all mistakes and errors.

If you want to learn more about how to write a definition essay, here is a video guide for you!

Definition Essay Structure

The structure of a definition essay is similar to that of any other academic essay. It should consist of an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

However, the focus of a definition essay is on defining and explaining a particular term or concept.

In this section, we will discuss the structure of a definition essay in detail.

Introduction

Get the idea of writing an introduction for a definition essay with this example:

"Have you ever wondered what it truly means to be a hero?"
Heroes have been celebrated in literature, mythology, and pop culture throughout history.
"In this essay, we will define the term hero, explore the key features that define heroism, and examine real-life examples of heroism in action."

Body Paragraphs

Here is an example of how to craft your definition essay body paragraph:

Heroes are individuals who demonstrate courage, selflessness, and a commitment to helping others. They often risk their own safety to protect others or achieve a noble goal.
Heroes are often confused with protagonists or role models, but they differ in that heroism involves action and sacrifice.
This could include stories of firefighters rescuing people from burning buildings, soldiers risking their lives in battle, or ordinary citizens performing acts of bravery during natural disasters.

Types of the Term/Concept

If applicable, the writer may want to include a section that discusses the different types or categories of the term or concept being defined.

This section should explain the similarities and differences between the types, using examples and anecdotes to illustrate the points.

This section could explore the different categories of heroes, such as those who are recognized for their bravery in the face of danger, those who inspire others through their deeds, or those who make a difference in their communities through volunteering.

Examples of the Term/Concept in Action

The writer should also include real-life examples of the term or concept being defined in action.

This will help the reader better understand the term or concept in context and how it is used in everyday life.

This could include stories of individuals who risked their lives to save others, such as firefighters who rushed into the Twin Towers on 9/11 or civilians who pulled people from a burning car.
This could include stories of individuals who performed small acts of kindness, such as a stranger who paid for someone's groceries or a teacher who went above and beyond to help a struggling student.

Conclusion

This example will help you writing a conclusion fo you essay:

Heroes are defined by their courage, selflessness, and commitment to helping others. There are many different types of heroes, but they all share these key features.
Heroism is an important concept because it inspires us to be better people and reminds us of the importance of selflessness and compassion.
"In a world where it's easy to feel cynical and disillusioned, heroes remind us that there is still goodness and bravery in the world."

Definition Essay Examples

It is important to go through some examples and samples before writing an essay. This is to understand the writing process and structure of the assigned task well.

Following are some examples of definition essays to give our students a better idea of the concept.

Understanding the Definition Essay

Definition Essay Example

Definition Essay About Friendship

Definition Essay About Love

Family Definition Essay

Success Definition Essay

Beauty Definition Essay

Definition Essay Topics

Selecting the right topic is challenging for other essay types. However, picking a suitable theme for a definition essay is equally tricky yet important. Pick an interesting subject to ensure maximum readership.

If you are facing writerâs block, here is a list of some great definition essay topics for your help. Choose from the list below and draft a compelling essay.

Authenticity
Sustainability
Mindfulness

Here are some more extended definition essay topics:

Social media addiction
Ethical implications of gene editing
Personalized learning in the digital age
Ecosystem services
Cultural assimilation versus cultural preservation
Sustainable fashion
Gender equality in the workplace
Financial literacy and its impact on personal finance
Ethical considerations in artificial intelligence
Welfare state and social safety nets

Need more topics? Check out this definition essay topics blog!

Definition Essay Writing Tips

Knowing the correct writing procedure is not enough if you are not aware of the essayâs small technicalities. To help students write a definition essay effortlessly, expert writers of CollegeEssay.org have gathered some simple tips.

These easy tips will make your assignment writing phase easy.

Choose an exciting yet informative topic for your essay.
When selecting the word, concept, or term for your essay, make sure you have the knowledge.
When consulting a dictionary for the definition, provide proper referencing as there are many choices available.
To make the essay informative and credible, always provide the origin and history of the term.
Highlight different meanings and interpretations of the term.
Discuss the transitions and evolution in the meaning of the term in any.
Provide your perspective and point of view on the chosen term.

Following these tips will guarantee you better grades in your academics.

By following the step-by-step approach explained in this guide, you will acquire the skills to craft an outstanding essay.

Struggling with the thought, " write my college essay for m e"? Look no further.

Our dedicated definition essay writing service is here to craft the perfect essay that meets your academic needs.

For an extra edge, explore our AI essay writer , a tool designed to refine your essays to perfection.

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Barbara is a highly educated and qualified author with a Ph.D. in public health from an Ivy League university. She has spent a significant amount of time working in the medical field, conducting a thorough study on a variety of health issues. Her work has been published in several major publications.

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Definition Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

definition of "definition essay" restated from the article

DESCRIPTION man taking notes with definition essay meaning
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PERMISSION Used under Getty Images license

A formal definition essay defines a term or concept. Definition essays are a form of expository writing in which the writer provides information about the term to their audience. They typically follow a standard essay format and include both a definition and an analysis of the term. Review the example essays below and try exploring some of the suggested essay topics, too.

Definition Essay Structure

You can follow the general structure for an expository essay when writing a definition essay.

full text essay example from the article with labeled parts

DESCRIPTION definition essay example with notes
SOURCE Created by Karina Goto for YourDictionary
PERMISSION Owned by YourDictionary, Copyright YourDictionary

While the basic pieces of the essay are the same, definition essays should include some key elements.

Introduction: Like most essays, the introduction paragraph in definition essays should start with an introduction sentence or “grabber,” followed by a transition sentence, and end with a strong thesis statement (which is often a clear statement of the definition).
Body Paragraphs: Typical definition essays at the middle and high school level should include around three body paragraphs. They begin with relevant topic sentences . Body paragraphs can provide important information about the term, including an extended definition, etymology , denotations and/or connotations , analogies, and negation (non-examples) of the concept.
Conclusion: Rephrase the thesis statement and make a larger statement about the term in your conclusion.

Example Essay: Wi-Fi (Concrete Concept)

There are basically two types of definition essays. They can define concrete concepts or abstract concepts. They should also provide a larger understanding of the term as a concept. Here first is an example of a definition essay for a concrete concept.

You know the feeling: You’re reading a website or streaming a movie when your Wi-Fi goes out. What is Wi-Fi, and why do we depend on it so much? Understanding the concept of Wi-Fi is important for users of modern technology because it connects us to the world. Wi-Fi is the wireless local network between nearby devices, such as wireless routers, computers, smartphones, tablets, or external drives. It is part of the LAN (local area network) protocols and has largely replaced the wired Ethernet option. When your device has Wi-Fi turned on, it can find the nearest router. If the router is connected to a modem and works with an Internet service provider (ISP), your device can now access the Internet and other devices on the network. Wi-Fi covers a much more limited area than a cell phone tower. However, Wi-Fi does not use expensive cellular data like LTE or 4G. Many people believe that Wi-Fi is short for “wireless fidelity.” The founding members of Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance needed a name that was easier to remember than “wireless ethernet,” and much easier than Wi-Fi’s actual original name, “IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence.” They added the slogan “The Standard for Wireless Fidelity,” but dropped it after people mistook the meaning of Wi-Fi. The name is a play on the term “hi-fi,” which is a high-quality reproduction in stereo sound (“high fidelity”), and not related to Wi-Fi at all. The IEEE 802.11b standard has since been upgraded to faster protocols, including 802.11g, 802.11n and 802.11ac. Because of Wi-Fi’s widespread use and popularity, Merriam-Webster added “Wi-Fi” to its dictionary in 2005, only eight years after it was invented. Today, most modern computers depend on Wi-Fi for Internet access. Free Wi-Fi is available in many restaurants, hotels, and coffee shops. It is also easy to install in your home for private use. However, even private Wi-Fi connections should be password-protected. Joining an unprotected Wi-Fi network, or allowing others to join your network, could compromise your online safety and privacy. Understanding what Wi-Fi really is can protect you and your information. When used correctly and safely, Wi-Fi is an essential part of the 21st-century experience. Whether you’re watching your favorite show or finishing up a research paper, you should know more about how data travels to and from your device.

Example Essay: Bravery (Abstract Concept)

The basic structure of a definition essay is the same whether you’re defining a concrete or abstract concept. Here is an example definition essay for an abstract concept.

Everyone feels afraid from time to time. From feeling the jitters to facing a lifelong phobia, it’s difficult to put fears aside when trying to accomplish a goal. But, one doesn’t need to forget that they are afraid in order to be brave; in fact, bravery doesn’t exist without real fear behind it. Bravery is the mindset one takes when facing a challenge that could be dangerous or difficult. The task could be objectively dangerous, such as engaging in battle or driving in adverse conditions. A person could also perceive a seemingly harmless situation as challenging, such as climbing a flight of stairs or talking to someone they’d like to date. A brave act requires one to face and embrace the task rather than withdraw from it. There are examples of bravery in every community. Look no farther than your local fire station or police station to see acts of bravery. Community heroes help others in small and large ways every day, often at great risk to their own lives. Students are brave when they stand up to a bully or present a project in front of the whole class. Practicing small acts of bravery can prepare a person to lead a heroic life. “Fearlessness” can be a connotation of bravery, but it’s not a true synonym (although bystanders may believe that a brave person acts without fear). If a task does not seem frightening in some way, it would be simple to complete, requiring no bravery at all. Heroes who exhibit bravery often put themselves at risk to help others. The closest synonym for bravery would be “courage.” The ability to do what’s right despite a real or perceived threat requires strength, making “fortitude” another near-synonym for bravery. Bravery doesn’t exist without fear. No matter how challenging or dangerous a task can be, bravery allows a person to work alongside their fear rather than forget about it. The next time you see someone acting heroically, remind yourself that they are probably terrified in that moment – and that makes them even braver.

Sample Definition Essay Topics

You just need to ask a question when finding a prompt for a definition essay. Here are some possible topics for your next definition essay. Note that the list includes both concrete and abstract terms and spans a range of subjects.

What is democracy?
What is classical music?
Explain the concept of friendship.
What is the Pythagorean Theorem?
Define bravery.
Define Gothic Romanticism.
What is a cold war?
Define the concept of grief.
What is maturity?
What is climate change?
Define the concept of race as a social construct.
What is math?
What is a millennial?
Define the concept of privilege.
What is a literary theme?
What is a political party?
Define the concept of sportsmanship.
What is an amphibian?
What is chemistry?
What was the Spanish Inquisition?
Explain the concept of dreaming.
What is a tomato?
What is physical fitness?

More Essay Options

Now that you’ve got the definition essay down, take a look at more writing resources. Get some tips on writing essays or read additional examples of different essay types . If your writing is getting a bit long, learn how to write clear, concise sentences .

How to Write a Definition Essay: A Step-by-Step Manual for Writing an A+ Paper

Samuel Gorbold

According to a definition essay meaning, it involves a thoughtful exploration and clarification of the significance of a chosen concept. To begin, carefully select a term that is broad enough to allow for in-depth analysis but specific enough to avoid ambiguity. Start the essay with a concise and standard definition drawn from reputable sources like dictionaries to provide a foundational understanding. However, most of the essay should go beyond this basic definition. Delve into the complexities of the concept, breaking it down into different components, categories, or aspects. Provide examples, anecdotes, and scenarios that illustrate the notion in various contexts, allowing readers to grasp the nuances and depth of its meaning.

Wondering how to add a definition in an essay? Structurally, a definition essay typically follows a clear and organized format. Begin with an introduction that introduces the term and its importance, followed by a thesis statement that outlines your interpretation. Each subsequent paragraph should focus on a different vista of the concept, exploring its history, evolution, and various renditions. Use transitions to ensure a smooth flow between passages. In conclusion, summarize the key points, restate your hypothesis, and leave the audience with a thought-provoking statement or a call to action. Remember that the goal is not just to define the notion but to provide a comprehensive and insightful exploration that enhances the professor's competence. Our essay writers online can help you foster a richer appreciation for the complexities inherent in language and society.

What Is a Definition Essay

A definition essay meaning suggests it is a type of academic writing that aims to provide a comprehensive explanation of a particular construct or concept. Unlike other forms of essays that may focus on argumentation or persuasion, a definition essay primarily seeks to elucidate the meaning of the chosen motif. What is the purpose of a definition essay? To delve beyond the surface-level comprehension of the word and offer a nuanced explanation combining personal insights and a broader, commonly accepted definition. This genre of essay often requires careful analysis, research, and consideration of various perspectives to present a well-rounded and thorough exploration of the selected consideration.

During the definition essay writing process, it is crucial for the writer to not only offer a concise dictionary-like definition but also to provide context, examples, and relevant anecdotes that help illuminate the leitmotif's multifaceted nature. This allows the reader to gain a deeper familiarization of the subject matter and encourages critical thinking. The essay may cover abstract concepts like love, justice, or freedom, or it can explore concrete assumptions such as technology, democracy, or sustainability. Through carefully selecting the apprehension and thoughtful exploration of its meaning, a well-executed definition essay engages readers.

Definition Essay Outline

To learn how to write a definition essay, you have to understand that a well-structured definition essay typically follows a standard creative writing format to ensure clarity and coherence in presenting the chosen concept. The introduction serves as the starting point, where the writer provides a standard definition of the aspect to establish a baseline realization for the audience. However, the introduction should go beyond a mere dictionary definition; it should include an argument that outlines the writer's interpretation and sets the stage for the following in-depth exploration. This statement guides the tutor on what to expect in the essay and highlights the specific dimensions the writer will delve into.

After realizing how to start a definition essay, proceed to the main body, where the idea is dissected and examined in detail. Each subsection within the body should focus on a distinct aspect or facet. It's crucial to provide clear and comprehensive explanations, incorporating examples, anecdotes, and illustrations to enhance the reader's erudition. Additionally, consider organizing the body paragraphs logically, perhaps moving from the more general vistas to its more specific or nuanced dimensions. Transitions between sections are essential for maintaining a smooth flow and coherence.

Finally, the conclusion should restate the key sentence, summarize the key points discussed in the body, and offer a thoughtful reflection or a broader implication of the facet. The conclusion should leave a lasting impression and reinforce the significance of the conception in the context explored throughout the essay. Browse these essays for sale to find great examples of definition essays performed by academic wordsmiths.

Introduction

Hook: Engage the classroom with an interesting fact, quote, or anecdote related to the theme.
Background: Provide a standard and basic definition from a reliable source.
Thesis Statement: Clearly state your interpretation and the aspects you will explore in the essay.

Body Paragraphs

Aspect 1: Start with the broader or general outlook.
Definition: Provide a detailed explanation of the first aspect.
Examples: Offer relevant examples, anecdotes, or scenarios to illustrate the concept.
Aspect 2: Move on to a specific dimension.
Definition: Delve into the details of the second aspect.
Examples: Support your explanation with concrete examples to enhance clarity.
Continue with additional angles as needed, ensuring a logical flow between passages.

Counterarguments (Optional)

Address possible alternative interpretations or misconceptions.
Refute counterarguments and reinforce the validity of your interpretation.
Summarize: Recap the key points discussed in the body paragraphs.
Restate Thesis: Reinforce your interpretation of the term.
Concluding Thoughts: Provide a thoughtful reflection, broader implication, or a call to action.

Definition Essay Introduction

In the introductory section of a definition essay, the reader is presented with the topic in a manner that is not only highly informative but also compelling enough to engage them throughout the entire essay. To achieve this, the following elements are crucial:

Hook: Utilize a captivating phrase or question to seize the reader's attention.
Background Information: Briefly elucidate the topic and underscore its significance in being defined.
Thesis Statement: Clearly articulate the term and provide your own interpretation of it.

Definition Essay Thesis

Unlike traditional theses, a definition essay thesis statement doesn't require the writer to argue a point. For those aiming to write an effective definition essay, the key lies in incorporating a central assertion into the concluding sentence of the introduction. Whether you're immersed in the study of astrophysics at a top-tier college or any other discipline, your statement should succinctly define the concept in your own words.

Definition Essay Body Paragraphs

As we’ve learned how to start an essay with a definition, let’s move on to the main body. Within the body of your essay, dismantle the conception into its constituent elements, assess it from various perspectives, and offer a pertinent justification. Depending on the specific writing requirements of your assignment, the number of sections may exceed three. You can introduce additional sections or rearrange the order based on the complexity of the thought. Consider employing the following structure if you want to know how to write a definition paragraph:

Historical Definition: Detail the origin and evolution of the main idea.
Dictionary Definition: Present the official definition and draw comparisons with your own interpretation.
Personal Definition: Articulate your awareness of the hypothesis, supported by examples and anecdotes.
Expert Definition: Reference a scholar's definition and elucidate any disparities from your own rendition.
Cultural Definition: Examine how the notion is employed in popular culture and its reflection of societal values.

Definition Essay Conclusion

In the concluding paragraph, the final portion of the essay, you can study how to define a word in an essay. It is imperative to recapitulate the main points. Structure a fitting ending by following these steps:

Restate Thesis: Summarize your definition and underscore its significance.
Implications: Clarify how comprehending the focal point can influence our thoughts and actions.
Call to Action: Motivate readers to employ the term accurately and advocate for precise definitions within their communities.

Definition Essay Types

Have you encountered a captivating abstraction with a rich history but didn’t know how to put definition in essay? Before committing to it, carefully consider the characteristics of definition essay and the potential approaches you can take.

Break down your topic into distinct components.
Define each component separately to provide a detailed insight.

Classification

Identify and explore the different categories or groups that your term falls under.
Provide detailed explanations for each category, highlighting the nuances of the term.
Showcase the uniqueness of your term by comparing it to more common or typical things.
Highlight how your term stands out, whether through similarities or differences from the norm.
Identify and elaborate on the specific traits and qualities that best represent the central idea of your essay.
Support your definition with concrete examples illustrating the identified traits.
Clearly state what your term is not, providing a refined and narrowed definition.
Use negation to eliminate ambiguity and focus the reader's perception.

Origins and Causes

Explore the historical roots of your term, including its first appearance and any relevant historical details.
Provide insight into the origin and evolution of the concept over time.

Results, Effects, and Uses

Examine the consequences and outcomes associated with your term.
Detail the various ways in which the term is utilized and its significance in different contexts.

Tips for Writing a Definition Essay

Few students actually know how to write a definition in an essay, which can pose a challenge as it requires developing a thorough depiction of a singular term that combines both scholarly and personal elements. Selecting a term that allows for a comprehensive exploration of the essay is crucial, and adhering to traditional methods is instrumental in ensuring a nuanced grasp. Here are some tips to help you perform an effective and engaging definition essay:

Select a term that has a clear and widely accepted definition. Avoid writing overly broad or subjective terms that may lead to ambiguity.
Conduct thorough research to understand the various meanings and interpretations of the term. Consult reputable sources, dictionaries, and scholarly articles to gather comprehensive information.
Begin your essay by presenting the standard or dictionary definition of the term. This serves as a foundation for your own elucidation.
Write your personal exegis of the term. Share your perspective and insights, going beyond the standard definition.
Experiment with different approaches such as analysis, classification, comparison, or negation to add depth to your essay. This allows you to explore various facets of the term.
To answer the question how do you put a definition in an essay, illustrate your definition with relevant examples, anecdotes, or scenarios. Concrete examples help readers better grasp the meaning of the term.
Organize your essay with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Each subsection should focus on a specific element of the term, contributing to a comprehensive interpretation.
Acknowledge and address different perspectives on the term. Discuss how the meaning may vary based on context, culture, or private experiences.
Use negation to define the term by explaining what it is not. This technique helps to eliminate confusion and refine the definition.
Strive for clarity and precision in your language. Avoid unnecessary complexity and ensure that each word contributes to the development of the term.
Review your essay for clarity, coherence, and consistency. Ensure that your definition is well-supported and that your writing is free from grammatical errors.
Write for your target audience. Tailor your explanations to suit the level of erudition of your readers, providing enough detail without overwhelming them.
Summarize your main points in the conclusion and restate your argumentation. Consider the broader implications or significance of writing about the term.
Have someone else read your essay to gain feedback. This can provide valuable insights and help you identify areas for improvement.

Need extra tips regarding how to write an academic essay ? Our expensive guide offers everything you need and more to write A-grade essays quickly.

Definition Essay Topic Ideas

Check out 30 definition essay examples of topics that you can get inspired by and brainstorm your own brilliant ideas to write about in your essay.

Defining true achievement beyond material wealth.
Exploring the many faces of bravery.
Unraveling the layers of genuine connection.
A multifaceted journey to contentment.
Navigating the moral compass in a complex world.
The power to bounce back from life's challenges.
Understanding and sharing the feelings of others.
The ever-evolving landscape of creative progress.
Striving for fairness in a diverse society.
Balancing personal liberties with social responsibility.
The interplay of self-perception and social constructs.
Integrating knowledge and experience for sound judgment.
The pursuit of fairness and equity in legal systems.
Nurturing connections that transcend time and distance.
Beyond the classroom – lifelong learning and growth.
Building bonds in a hyperconnected world.
Fostering hope in the face of adversity.
Inspiring and guiding others toward a common goal.
Unveiling the aesthetic essence beyond physical appearance.
Celebrating differences for a richer human experience.
Acts of selflessness in a self-centric world.
Balancing human needs with environmental responsibility.
Unleashing imagination for innovative problem-solving.
A holistic approach to physical and mental well-being.
Standing in the intersection of heritage and modernity.
Examining the impact of innovation on human life.
Transformative growth in the face of challenges.
The evolution of thought and behavior across the lifespan.
Discovering meaning and direction in life.
The art of expressing ideas and building connections.

Two Definition Essay Examples

To grasp the essence of what writing definition essay is about, it’s always a great idea to have a vivid example in front of you. Preferably done by someone who knows their writing craft. If you choose to use this definition essay example as a reference, feel free to analyze its structure and format. Alternatively, you can opt to purchase an essay affordably and of the highest quality on our platform!

How to Write a Good Thesis Statement for Definition Essay?

How to write a definition essay, how to format a definition in an essay, how to write a definition paragraph.

Samuel Gorbold , a seasoned professor with over 30 years of experience, guides students across disciplines such as English, psychology, political science, and many more. Together with EssayHub, he is dedicated to enhancing student understanding and success through comprehensive academic support.

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Definition Essay

Definition is a rhetorical style that uses various techniques to impress upon the reader the meaning of a term, idea, or concept. Definition may be used for an entire essay but is often used as a rhetorical style within an essay that may mix rhetorical styles. For example, you may need to use definition in order to fully explain a concept before you make an argument about that concept.

A definition essay is structured around the goal of defining a term, concept, or idea. While you may start off with a simple dictionary definition, your essay will, ultimately, contain an extended definition. There are many techniques you can use to extend a definition in a definition essay (to be discussed further).

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How to Write a Definition Essay

A definition essay can be deceivingly difficult to write. This type of paper requires you to write a personal yet academic definition of one specific word. The definition must be thorough and lengthy. It is essential that you choose a word that will give you plenty to write about, and there are a few standard tactics you can use to elaborate on the term. Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind when writing a definition essay.

Part 1 of 3: Choosing the Right Word

1: choose an abstract word with a complex meaning. [1].

A simple word that refers to a concrete word will not give you much to write about, but a complex word that refers to an abstract concept provides more material to explore.

Typically, nouns that refer to a person, place, or thing are too simple for a definition essay. Nouns that refer to an idea work better, however, as do most adjectives.
For example, the word “house” is fairly simple and an essay written around it may be dull. By switching to something slightly more abstract like “home,” however, you can play around with the definition more. A “home” is a concept, and there are many elements involved in the creation of a “home.” In comparison, a “house” is merely a structure.

2: Make sure that the word is disputable.

Aside from being complex, the word should also refer to something that can mean different things to different people.

A definition essay is somewhat subjective by nature since it requires you to analyze and define a word from your own perspective. If the answer you come up with after analyzing a word is the same answer anyone else would come up with, your essay may appear to lack depth.

3: Choose a word you have some familiarity with.

Dictionary definitions can only tell you so much. Since you need to elaborate on the word you choose to define, you will need to have your own base of knowledge or experience with the concept you choose.

For instance, if you have never heard the term “pedantic,” your understanding of the word will be limited. You can introduce yourself to the word for your essay, but without previous understanding of the concept, you will not know if the definition you describe is truly fitting.

4: Read the dictionary definition.

While you will not be relying completely on the dictionary definition for your essay, familiarizing yourself with the official definition will allow you to compare your own understanding of the concept with the simplest, most academic explanation of it.

As an example, one definition of “friend” is “a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.” [2] Your own ideas or beliefs about what a “friend” really is likely include much more information, but this basic definition can present you with a good starting point in forming your own.

5: Research the word’s origins.

Look up your chosen word in the Oxford English Dictionary or in another etymology dictionary. [3]

These sources can tell you the history behind a word, which can provide further insight on a general definition as well as information about how a word came to mean what it means today.

Part 2 of 3: Potential Elements of an Effective Definition

1: write an analysis. [4].

Separate a word into various parts. Analyze and define each part in its own paragraph.

You can separate “return” into “re-” and “turn.” The word “friendship” can be separated into “friend” and “ship.”
In order to analyze each portion of a word, you will still need to use additional defining tactics like negation and classification.
Note that this tactic only works for words that contain multiple parts. The word “love,” for instance, cannot be broken down any further. If defining “platonic love,” though, you could define both “platonic” and “love” separately within your essay.

2: Classify the term.

Specify what classes and parts of speech a word belongs to according to a standard dictionary definition.

While this information is very basic and dry, it can provide helpful context about the way that a given word is used.

3: Compare an unfamiliar term to something familiar.

An unfamiliar or uncommon concept can be explained using concepts that are more accessible to the average person.

Many people have never heard of the term “confrere,” for instance. One basic definition is “a fellow member of a profession, fraternity, etc.” As such, you could compare “confrere” with “colleague,” which is a similar yet more familiar concept. [5]

4: Provide traditional details about the term.

Explain any physical characteristics or traditional thoughts used to describe your term of choice.

The term “home” is often visualized physically as a house or apartment. In more abstract terms, “home” is traditionally thought to be a warm, cozy, and safe environment. You can include all of these features in a definition essay on “home.”

5: Use examples to illustrate the meaning.

People often relate to stories and vivid images, so using a fitting story or image that relates to the term can be used in clarifying an abstract, formless concept.

In a definition essay about “kindness,” for example, you could write about an act of kindness you recently witnessed. Someone who mows the lawn of an elderly neighbor is a valid example, just as someone who gave you an encouraging word when you were feeling down might be.

6: Use negation to explain what the term does not mean.

If a term is often misused or misunderstood, mentioning what it is not is an effective way to bring the concept into focus.

A common example would be the term “courage.” The term is often associated with a lack of fear, but many will argue that “courage” is more accurately described as acting in spite of fear.

7: Provide background information.

This is when your research about the etymology of a word will come in handy. Explain where the term originated and how it came to mean what it currently means.

Part 3 of 3: Definition Essay Structure

1: introduce the standard definition..

You need to clearly state what your word is along with its traditional or dictionary definition in your introductory paragraph.

By opening with the dictionary definition of your term, you create context and a basic level of knowledge about the word. This will allow you to introduce and elaborate on your own definition.
This is especially significant when the traditional definition of your term varies from your own definition in notable ways.

2: Define the term in your own words in your thesis.

Your actual thesis statement should define the term in your own words.

Keep the definition in your thesis brief and basic. You will elaborate on it more in the body of your paper.
Avoid using passive phrases involving the word “is” when defining your term. The phrases “is where” and “is when” are especially clunky. [6]
Do not repeat part of the defined term in your definition.

3: Separate different parts of the definition into separate paragraphs.

Each tactic or method used to define your term should be explored in a separate paragraph.

Note that you do not need to use all the possible methods of defining a term in your essay. You should use a variety of different methods in order to create a full, well-rounded picture of the term, but some tactics will work great with some terms but not with others.

4: Conclude with a summary of your main points.

Briefly summarize your main points around the start of your concluding paragraph.

This summary does not need to be elaborate. Usually, looking at the topic sentence of each body paragraph is a good way to form a simple list of your main points.
You can also draw the essay to a close by referring to phrases or images evoked in your introduction.

5: Mention how the definition has affected you, if desired.

If the term you define plays a part in your own life and experiences, your final concluding remarks are a good place to briefly mention the role it plays.

Relate your experience with the term to the definition you created for it in your thesis. Avoid sharing experiences that relate to the term but contradict everything you wrote in your essay.

Sources and Citations

http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/Definition.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/friend?s=t
http://www.etymonline.com/
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/definition.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/confrere?s=t
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/definition.htm
How to Write a Definition Essay. Provided by : WikiHow. Located at : http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Definition-Essay . License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
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An Overview of the Writing Process

Introduction to the Writing Process
Introduction to Writing
Your Role as a Learner
What is an Essay?
Reading to Write
Defining the Writing Process
Videos: Prewriting Techniques
Thesis Statements
Organizing an Essay
Creating Paragraphs
Conclusions
Editing and Proofreading
Matters of Grammar, Mechanics, and Style
Peer Review Checklist
Comparative Chart of Writing Strategies

Using Sources

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Avoiding Plagiarism
Formatting the Works Cited Page (MLA)
Citing Paraphrases and Summaries (APA)
APA Citation Style, 6th edition: General Style Guidelines

Definition Essay

Definitional Argument Essay
Critical Thinking
Video: Thesis Explained
Effective Thesis Statements
Student Sample: Definition Essay

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Rogerian Argument
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How to Write a Summary by Paraphrasing Source Material
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essay - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

essay , an analytic , interpretative, or critical literary composition usually much shorter and less systematic and formal than a dissertation or thesis and usually dealing with its subject from a limited and often personal point of view.

Some early treatises—such as those of Cicero on the pleasantness of old age or on the art of “divination,” Seneca on anger or clemency , and Plutarch on the passing of oracles—presage to a certain degree the form and tone of the essay, but not until the late 16th century was the flexible and deliberately nonchalant and versatile form of the essay perfected by the French writer Michel de Montaigne . Choosing the name essai to emphasize that his compositions were attempts or endeavours, a groping toward the expression of his personal thoughts and experiences, Montaigne used the essay as a means of self-discovery. His Essais , published in their final form in 1588, are still considered among the finest of their kind. Later writers who most nearly recall the charm of Montaigne include, in England, Robert Burton , though his whimsicality is more erudite , Sir Thomas Browne , and Laurence Sterne , and in France, with more self-consciousness and pose, André Gide and Jean Cocteau .

At the beginning of the 17th century, social manners, the cultivation of politeness, and the training of an accomplished gentleman became the theme of many essayists. This theme was first exploited by the Italian Baldassare Castiglione in his Il libro del cortegiano (1528; The Book of the Courtier ). The influence of the essay and of genres allied to it, such as maxims, portraits, and sketches, proved second to none in molding the behavior of the cultured classes, first in Italy, then in France, and, through French influence, in most of Europe in the 17th century. Among those who pursued this theme was the 17th-century Spanish Jesuit Baltasar Gracián in his essays on the art of worldly wisdom.

Keener political awareness in the 18th century, the age of Enlightenment , made the essay an all-important vehicle for the criticism of society and religion. Because of its flexibility, its brevity , and its potential both for ambiguity and for allusions to current events and conditions, it was an ideal tool for philosophical reformers. The Federalist Papers in America and the tracts of the French Revolutionaries are among the countless examples of attempts during this period to improve the human condition through the essay.

The genre also became the favoured tool of traditionalists of the 18th and 19th centuries, such as Edmund Burke and Samuel Taylor Coleridge , who looked to the short, provocative essay as the most potent means of educating the masses. Essays such as Paul Elmer More’s long series of Shelburne Essays (published between 1904 and 1935), T.S. Eliot ’s After Strange Gods (1934) and Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948), and others that attempted to reinterpret and redefine culture , established the genre as the most fitting to express the genteel tradition at odds with the democracy of the new world.

Whereas in several countries the essay became the chosen vehicle of literary and social criticism, in other countries the genre became semipolitical, earnestly nationalistic, and often polemical, playful, or bitter. Essayists such as Robert Louis Stevenson and Willa Cather wrote with grace on several lighter subjects, and many writers—including Virginia Woolf , Edmund Wilson , and Charles du Bos —mastered the essay as a form of literary criticism .

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3.2: How to Write a Definition Essay

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Part 1 of 3: Choosing the Right Word

1: choose an abstract word with a complex meaning. [1].

A simple word that refers to a concrete word will not give you much to write about, but a complex word that refers to an abstract concept provides more material to explore.

Typically, nouns that refer to a person, place, or thing are too simple for a definition essay. Nouns that refer to an idea work better, however, as do most adjectives.
For example, the word “house” is fairly simple and an essay written around it may be dull. By switching to something slightly more abstract like “home,” however, you can play around with the definition more. A “home” is a concept, and there are many elements involved in the creation of a “home.” In comparison, a “house” is merely a structure.

2: Make sure that the word is disputable.

Aside from being complex, the word should also refer to something that can mean different things to different people.

A definition essay is somewhat subjective by nature since it requires you to analyze and define a word from your own perspective. If the answer you come up with after analyzing a word is the same answer anyone else would come up with, your essay may appear to lack depth.

3: Choose a word you have some familiarity with.

For instance, if you have never heard the term “pedantic,” your understanding of the word will be limited. You can introduce yourself to the word for your essay, but without previous understanding of the concept, you will not know if the definition you describe is truly fitting.

4: Read the dictionary definition.

As an example, one definition of “friend” is “a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.” [2] Your own ideas or beliefs about what a “friend” really is likely include much more information, but this basic definition can present you with a good starting point in forming your own.

5: Research the word’s origins.

Look up your chosen word in the Oxford English Dictionary or in another etymology dictionary. [3]

These sources can tell you the history behind a word, which can provide further insight on a general definition as well as information about how a word came to mean what it means today.

Part 2 of 3: Potential Elements of an Effective Definition

1: write an analysis. [4].

Separate a word into various parts. Analyze and define each part in its own paragraph.

You can separate “return” into “re-” and “turn.” The word “friendship” can be separated into “friend” and “ship.”
In order to analyze each portion of a word, you will still need to use additional defining tactics like negation and classification.
Note that this tactic only works for words that contain multiple parts. The word “love,” for instance, cannot be broken down any further. If defining “platonic love,” though, you could define both “platonic” and “love” separately within your essay.

2: Classify the term.

Specify what classes and parts of speech a word belongs to according to a standard dictionary definition.

While this information is very basic and dry, it can provide helpful context about the way that a given word is used.

3: Compare an unfamiliar term to something familiar.

An unfamiliar or uncommon concept can be explained using concepts that are more accessible to the average person.

Many people have never heard of the term “confrere,” for instance. One basic definition is “a fellow member of a profession, fraternity, etc.” As such, you could compare “confrere” with “colleague,” which is a similar yet more familiar concept. [5]

4: Provide traditional details about the term.

Explain any physical characteristics or traditional thoughts used to describe your term of choice.

The term “home” is often visualized physically as a house or apartment. In more abstract terms, “home” is traditionally thought to be a warm, cozy, and safe environment. You can include all of these features in a definition essay on “home.”

5: Use examples to illustrate the meaning.

People often relate to stories and vivid images, so using a fitting story or image that relates to the term can be used in clarifying an abstract, formless concept.

In a definition essay about “kindness,” for example, you could write about an act of kindness you recently witnessed. Someone who mows the lawn of an elderly neighbor is a valid example, just as someone who gave you an encouraging word when you were feeling down might be.

6: Use negation to explain what the term does not mean.

If a term is often misused or misunderstood, mentioning what it is not is an effective way to bring the concept into focus.

A common example would be the term “courage.” The term is often associated with a lack of fear, but many will argue that “courage” is more accurately described as acting in spite of fear.

7: Provide background information.

This is when your research about the etymology of a word will come in handy. Explain where the term originated and how it came to mean what it currently means.

Part 3 of 3: Definition Essay Structure

1: introduce the standard definition..

You need to clearly state what your word is along with its traditional or dictionary definition in your introductory paragraph.

By opening with the dictionary definition of your term, you create context and a basic level of knowledge about the word. This will allow you to introduce and elaborate on your own definition.
This is especially significant when the traditional definition of your term varies from your own definition in notable ways.

2: Define the term in your own words in your thesis.

Your actual thesis statement should define the term in your own words.

Keep the definition in your thesis brief and basic. You will elaborate on it more in the body of your paper.
Avoid using passive phrases involving the word “is” when defining your term. The phrases “is where” and “is when” are especially clunky. [6]
Do not repeat part of the defined term in your definition.

3: Separate different parts of the definition into separate paragraphs.

Each tactic or method used to define your term should be explored in a separate paragraph.

Note that you do not need to use all the possible methods of defining a term in your essay. You should use a variety of different methods in order to create a full, well-rounded picture of the term, but some tactics will work great with some terms but not with others.

4: Conclude with a summary of your main points.

Briefly summarize your main points around the start of your concluding paragraph.

This summary does not need to be elaborate. Usually, looking at the topic sentence of each body paragraph is a good way to form a simple list of your main points.
You can also draw the essay to a close by referring to phrases or images evoked in your introduction.

5: Mention how the definition has affected you, if desired.

If the term you define plays a part in your own life and experiences, your final concluding remarks are a good place to briefly mention the role it plays.

Relate your experience with the term to the definition you created for it in your thesis. Avoid sharing experiences that relate to the term but contradict everything you wrote in your essay.

Sources and Citations

www.roanestate.edu/owl/Definition.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/friend?s=t
http://www.etymonline.com/
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/definition.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/confrere?s=t
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/definition.htm

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Definition of essay

(Entry 1 of 2)

Definition of essay (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

composition

attempt , try , endeavor , essay , strive mean to make an effort to accomplish an end.

attempt stresses the initiation or beginning of an effort.

try is often close to attempt but may stress effort or experiment made in the hope of testing or proving something.

endeavor heightens the implications of exertion and difficulty.

essay implies difficulty but also suggests tentative trying or experimenting.

strive implies great exertion against great difficulty and specifically suggests persistent effort.

Examples of essay in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'essay.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Middle French essai , ultimately from Late Latin exagium act of weighing, from Latin ex- + agere to drive — more at agent

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 4

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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“Essay.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/essay. Accessed 9 Sep. 2024.

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I want to finish off this essay before I go to bed .
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stick at something

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How to Write a Definition Essay

Last Updated: January 27, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed. . Alexander Ruiz is an Educational Consultant and the Educational Director of Link Educational Institute, a tutoring business based in Claremont, California that provides customizable educational plans, subject and test prep tutoring, and college application consulting. With over a decade and a half of experience in the education industry, Alexander coaches students to increase their self-awareness and emotional intelligence while achieving skills and the goal of achieving skills and higher education. He holds a BA in Psychology from Florida International University and an MA in Education from Georgia Southern University. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 455,105 times.

A definition essay requires you to write your own definition of a word. The definition must be thorough and well supported by research and evidence. You may have to write a definition essay for a class or try it as a writing challenge to help improve your English skills. Start by selecting and defining the word. Then, create a draft that presents a detailed definition using references and sources. Polish the essay when you are done so it flows well and does not contain any grammatical errors.

Selecting the Word

You can also pick a concept like “Success,” “Friendship,” or “Faith.”
Concepts like “Pain,” “Loss,” or “Death” are also good options.

Step 2 Avoid concrete objects or things.

You can try taking a concrete object and using a similar word to make it more open-ended. For example, the word “house” is concrete and obvious. But the word “home” is more open-ended and allows you to create your own definition of the word.

Step 3 Select a word you are familiar with.

For example, you may choose a word like “success” because you are familiar with the word and feel you may have a lot to say about what it means to be successful or to feel success in your life.

Step 4 Go for a word that can have a variety of meanings.

For example, you may choose a word like “pain” because you feel there are a variety of meanings for the word based on who you talk to and how they experience “pain” in their lives.

Defining the Word

Step 1 Look up the word in the dictionary.

For example, if you look up the word “justice” in the dictionary, you may get this definition: “noun, the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness.”
You can then determine that “justice” is a noun and can be compared to other terms like “righteousness” and “moral rightness.”

Step 2 Research the origin of the word in encyclopedias.

For example, you may look up the word “justice” in an online encyclopedia that focuses on philosophy or law. You may then find information on Western theories of justice and how it became an important concept in Western history and the legal system.

Step 3 Search online for articles, websites, and videos that discuss the word.

Look on academic search engines like Google Scholar, JSTOR, and ProQuest for scholarly articles.
You can also look for educational videos that have been made about the word on YouTube and other video websites.

Step 4 Interview peers, family, and friends about the word.

“What comes to mind when you think of the word?”
“How do you feel about the word on a personal level?”
“How do you interact or deal with the word?”
“What does the word mean to you?”
Take notes or record the interviews so you can use them as sources in your essay.

Step 5 Create your own definition of the word.

For example, you may write: “Justice, a quality or trait where you act in a morally right way.” Or you may write: “Justice, a concept in the legal system where the fair or equitable thing is done, as in ‘justice has been served.’”
It's important to have tact and tread carefully here. It's important to preface your own definition of the word, making it clear that's a personal opinion. Make sure not to create the misconception that your own definition is the accepted or official one.
At the end of the day, your objective should be to write the actual definition, and not an opinion essay.

Creating an Essay Draft

Your thesis statement should appear in the introduction and conclusion section of your essay.

Step 2 Introduce the term and the standard definition.

For example, you may write, “According to the Oxford Dictionary, justice is a noun, and it means: the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness.”

Step 3 Include a thesis statement with your own definition.

For example, you may have a thesis statement like, “According to my research and my personal experiences, justice is a quality or trait where you act in a morally correct way.”

Step 4 Discuss the history and origin of the word.

For example, you may write, “Justice comes from the Latin jus , which means right or law. It is a commonly used concept in politics, in the legal system, and in philosophy.”

Step 5 Analyze the dictionary definition of the word.

For example, you may discuss how justice works as a noun or an idea in politics, the legal system, and in philosophy. You may also discuss what the “quality of being just” means in our society.

Step 6 Compare and contrast the term with other terms.

For example, you may talk about how justice is similar and also not quite the same as words like “righteousness” and “equitableness.”
You can also discuss words that mean the opposite of the term you are defining. For example, you may contrast the word “justice” with the word “injustice” or “inequality.”

Step 7 Discuss your personal definition.

For example, you may write, “On a personal level, I view justice as an essential concept” or “Based on my own experiences, I think justice is blind and often does not serve those who need it the most.”
You can also include personal experiences of the word based on interviews you conducted with others.

Step 8 Support your points with evidence and references.

Make sure you follow your instructor’s preferred citation style, such as MLA , APA , or Chicago Style .

Step 9 Conclude by restating your main points.

Look at the first sentence in each section of the paragraph to help you gather your main points.
Include a last sentence that has a strong image or that describes a key phrase in your essay.

Polishing the Essay

You should also check for any spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors in the essay.

Step 2 Show the essay to others for feedback.

Be open to constructive criticism from others and take their feedback to heart. It will only make your essay better.

If there is a word count or a page count for the definition essay, make sure you meet it.
Include a reference page at the end of the essay and a cover page at the beginning of the essay, if required.

Expert Q&A

Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about writing essays, check out our in-depth interview with Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed. .

↑ https://owl.excelsior.edu/rhetorical-styles/definition-essay/
↑ https://open.lib.umn.edu/writingforsuccess/chapter/10-6-definition/
↑ https://quillbot.com/courses/introduction-to-college-level-academic-writing/chapter/how-to-write-a-definition-essay/
↑ https://examples.yourdictionary.com/definition-essay-examples-and-topic-ideas.html
↑ https://owlcation.com/humanities/How-to-Write-a-Definition-Essay-from-Multiple-Sources
↑ https://academichelp.net/academic-assignments/essay/write-definition-essay.html
↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/definitions.html
↑ https://owl.excelsior.edu/rhetorical-styles/definition-essay/definition-essay-techniques/
↑ https://quillbot.com/courses/rhetorical-methods-based-essay-writing/chapter/how-to-write-a-definition-essay/
↑ https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/using-evidence.html
↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/reading-aloud/
↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/steps_for_revising.html

About This Article

To write a definition essay, choose a word that describes a concept or idea. Look up the dictionary definition, the origin of the word, and any scholarly essays or articles that discuss the word in detail, then use this information to create your own definition. When you write your paper, introduce the term and the standard dictionary definition of the word, followed by a thesis stating your own definition. Use the body of the paper to include historical information and explain what the word means to you, then conclude by restating your thesis. For tips on picking your word, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Literary Terms
Definition & Examples
When & How to Write an Essay

I. What is an Essay?

An essay is a form of writing in paragraph form that uses informal language, although it can be written formally. Essays may be written in first-person point of view (I, ours, mine), but third-person (people, he, she) is preferable in most academic essays. Essays do not require research as most academic reports and papers do; however, they should cite any literary works that are used within the paper.

When thinking of essays, we normally think of the five-paragraph essay: Paragraph 1 is the introduction, paragraphs 2-4 are the body covering three main ideas, and paragraph 5 is the conclusion. Sixth and seventh graders may start out with three paragraph essays in order to learn the concepts. However, essays may be longer than five paragraphs. Essays are easier and quicker to read than books, so are a preferred way to express ideas and concepts when bringing them to public attention.

II. Examples of Essays

Many of our most famous Americans have written essays. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson wrote essays about being good citizens and concepts to build the new United States. In the pre-Civil War days of the 1800s, people such as:

Ralph Waldo Emerson (an author) wrote essays on self-improvement
Susan B. Anthony wrote on women’s right to vote
Frederick Douglass wrote on the issue of African Americans’ future in the U.S.

Through each era of American history, well-known figures in areas such as politics, literature, the arts, business, etc., voiced their opinions through short and long essays.

The ultimate persuasive essay that most students learn about and read in social studies is the “Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson in 1776. Other founding fathers edited and critiqued it, but he drafted the first version. He builds a strong argument by stating his premise (claim) then proceeds to give the evidence in a straightforward manner before coming to his logical conclusion.

III. Types of Essays

A. expository.

Essays written to explore and explain ideas are called expository essays (they expose truths). These will be more formal types of essays usually written in third person, to be more objective. There are many forms, each one having its own organizational pattern. Cause/Effect essays explain the reason (cause) for something that happens after (effect). Definition essays define an idea or concept. Compare/ Contrast essays will look at two items and show how they are similar (compare) and different (contrast).

b. Persuasive

An argumentative paper presents an idea or concept with the intention of attempting to change a reader’s mind or actions . These may be written in second person, using “you” in order to speak to the reader. This is called a persuasive essay. There will be a premise (claim) followed by evidence to show why you should believe the claim.

c. Narrative

Narrative means story, so narrative essays will illustrate and describe an event of some kind to tell a story. Most times, they will be written in first person. The writer will use descriptive terms, and may have paragraphs that tell a beginning, middle, and end in place of the five paragraphs with introduction, body, and conclusion. However, if there is a lesson to be learned, a five-paragraph may be used to ensure the lesson is shown.

d. Descriptive

The goal of a descriptive essay is to vividly describe an event, item, place, memory, etc. This essay may be written in any point of view, depending on what’s being described. There is a lot of freedom of language in descriptive essays, which can include figurative language, as well.

IV. The Importance of Essays

Essays are an important piece of literature that can be used in a variety of situations. They’re a flexible type of writing, which makes them useful in many settings . History can be traced and understood through essays from theorists, leaders, artists of various arts, and regular citizens of countries throughout the world and time. For students, learning to write essays is also important because as they leave school and enter college and/or the work force, it is vital for them to be able to express themselves well.

V. Examples of Essays in Literature

Sir Francis Bacon was a leading philosopher who influenced the colonies in the 1600s. Many of America’s founding fathers also favored his philosophies toward government. Bacon wrote an essay titled “Of Nobility” in 1601 , in which he defines the concept of nobility in relation to people and government. The following is the introduction of his definition essay. Note the use of “we” for his point of view, which includes his readers while still sounding rather formal.

“We will speak of nobility, first as a portion of an estate, then as a condition of particular persons. A monarchy, where there is no nobility at all, is ever a pure and absolute tyranny; as that of the Turks. For nobility attempers sovereignty, and draws the eyes of the people, somewhat aside from the line royal. But for democracies, they need it not; and they are commonly more quiet, and less subject to sedition, than where there are stirps of nobles. For men’s eyes are upon the business, and not upon the persons; or if upon the persons, it is for the business’ sake, as fittest, and not for flags and pedigree. We see the Switzers last well, notwithstanding their diversity of religion, and of cantons. For utility is their bond, and not respects. The united provinces of the Low Countries, in their government, excel; for where there is an equality, the consultations are more indifferent, and the payments and tributes, more cheerful. A great and potent nobility, addeth majesty to a monarch, but diminisheth power; and putteth life and spirit into the people, but presseth their fortune. It is well, when nobles are not too great for sovereignty nor for justice; and yet maintained in that height, as the insolency of inferiors may be broken upon them, before it come on too fast upon the majesty of kings. A numerous nobility causeth poverty, and inconvenience in a state; for it is a surcharge of expense; and besides, it being of necessity, that many of the nobility fall, in time, to be weak in fortune, it maketh a kind of disproportion, between honor and means.”

A popular modern day essayist is Barbara Kingsolver. Her book, “Small Wonders,” is full of essays describing her thoughts and experiences both at home and around the world. Her intention with her essays is to make her readers think about various social issues, mainly concerning the environment and how people treat each other. The link below is to an essay in which a child in an Iranian village she visited had disappeared. The boy was found three days later in a bear’s cave, alive and well, protected by a mother bear. She uses a narrative essay to tell her story.

VI. Examples of Essays in Pop Culture

Many rap songs are basically mini essays, expressing outrage and sorrow over social issues today, just as the 1960s had a lot of anti-war and peace songs that told stories and described social problems of that time. Any good song writer will pay attention to current events and express ideas in a creative way.

A well-known essay written in 1997 by Mary Schmich, a columnist with the Chicago Tribune, was made into a popular video on MTV by Baz Luhrmann. Schmich’s thesis is to wear sunscreen, but she adds strong advice with supporting details throughout the body of her essay, reverting to her thesis in the conclusion.

Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen

VII. Related Terms

Research paper.

Research papers follow the same basic format of an essay. They have an introductory paragraph, the body, and a conclusion. However, research papers have strict guidelines regarding a title page, header, sub-headers within the paper, citations throughout and in a bibliography page, the size and type of font, and margins. The purpose of a research paper is to explore an area by looking at previous research. Some research papers may include additional studies by the author, which would then be compared to previous research. The point of view is an objective third-person. No opinion is allowed. Any claims must be backed up with research.

VIII. Conclusion

Students dread hearing that they are going to write an essay, but essays are one of the easiest and most relaxed types of writing they will learn. Mastering the essay will make research papers much easier, since they have the same basic structure. Many historical events can be better understood through essays written by people involved in those times. The continuation of essays in today’s times will allow future historians to understand how our new world of technology and information impacted us.

List of Terms

Alliteration
Amplification
Anachronism
Anthropomorphism
Antonomasia
APA Citation
Aposiopesis
Autobiography
Bildungsroman
Characterization
Circumlocution
Cliffhanger
Comic Relief
Connotation
Deus ex machina
Deuteragonist
Doppelganger
Double Entendre
Dramatic irony
Equivocation
Extended Metaphor
Figures of Speech
Flash-forward
Foreshadowing
Intertextuality
Juxtaposition
Literary Device
Malapropism
Onomatopoeia
Parallelism
Pathetic Fallacy
Personification
Point of View
Polysyndeton
Protagonist
Red Herring
Rhetorical Device
Rhetorical Question
Science Fiction
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Synesthesia
Turning Point
Understatement
Urban Legend
Verisimilitude
Essay Guide
Cite This Website

How to Write a Definition Essay

Published September 27, 2020. Updated May 4, 2022.

Definition Essay Definition

A definition essay defines a term or concept but goes beyond the basic definition of a word.

Overview of a Definition Essay

A definition is often used in various essay types to explain a concept. Definition essays can discuss a word’s significance, correct misconceptions, argue for a preferred definition, or argue for a new understanding of the word. Definitions provide readers a deep understanding of not only a word’s meaning but also its significance. Furthermore, definitions help to correct misconceptions about a word.

Definition essays may review different parts of the word’s meaning, including its connotation, denotation, extended definition, and stipulative definition. Always consider the audience for a definition essay to ensure that the argument is relevant and meaningful to readers.

This page will cover the following points:

Key Takeaways

Why write a definition essay, types of definitions.

Developing your Definition Essay
Definition essays can discuss a word’s significance, correct misconceptions, argue for a preferred definition, or argue for a new understanding of the word.
The essay may cover different parts of the word’s meaning, including its denotation, connotation, extended definition, and stipulative definition.
Regardless of the approach taken, your essay should contain a thesis statement in the introduction that lays out the claim you will be making about the word and its meaning.
It is important to consider the audience for your definition essay to ensure that your argument is relevant and meaningful to them.

A definition is often used as a tool in various essay types when you need to explain a key term or concept. However, a definition can itself be the main focus of an essay. At first, this might seem limited. After all, when you want to know what a word means, you just look it up and read a brief definition. How do you turn something like that into an entire essay?

A definition essay goes beyond the basic definition of a word. It can:

Provide readers a deep understanding of not only a word’s meaning but also its significance.
Try to correct misconceptions about a word.
Argue for a preferred definition.
Argue for a new understanding of a word or concept.

Worried about your writing? Submit your paper for a Chegg Writing essay check , or for an Expert Check proofreading . Both can help you find and fix potential writing issues.

There are different types of definitions and different parts of a word or term’s meaning. These can all have a role in a definition essay, although they might not all be emphasized to the same degree. Below, we’ll cover:

Connotation

Stipulative.

The denotation is a word’s dictionary definition. Denotation is the straightforward meaning of a word that you can look up. Words can have multiple denotations and even different parts of speech.

The word “fast” has numerous denotations. “Fast” can mean not eating for a period of time; in this case, “to fast” is a verb, but “fast” is also a noun. “Fast” can also mean swift or speedy; in this case, “fast” is an adjective. It has many other denotations too.

A word’s connotation is its emotional resonance . Associations and usage create emotional resonance. Some words have a neutral connotation, but others have a more distinct connotation. The connotation adds a richness that goes beyond the denotation.

The denotation of “mother” is simply a female parent. However, the word has positive connotations of warmth, love, and care.

Connotation is responsive to how society uses a word. This can sometimes change quite quickly.

The word “pirate” has an appealing connotation of adventure and excitement that probably wasn’t as strong before the extremely popular Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise.

Connotation vs. Denotation

Denotations can change, but they are generally more stable than connotations. Connotations are strongly connected to culture, so a word might have a certain connotation in one country or with one group of people but have a different connotation with another. While connotation relates to denotation, we recognize connotation more because of how a word is used.

We don’t often refer to children as “progeny” or “offspring,” so if your parents were to start calling you this, it might seem odd, but no one thinks it’s strange to call children “kids.” All of these words—children, progeny, offspring, kids—have the same denotation but different connotations.

An extended definition goes beyond a word’s denotation(s) to give a more thorough understanding . It might go into such things as:

an expanded description of the word or concept
comparisons
etymology (the study of words’ origins and histories of development)
examples of usage

The Oxford English Dictionary is an especially good resource for this. The dictionary is subscription-based, but schools and libraries often subscribe, so students can access it.

A stipulative definition argues for a particular interpretation of a word or term . This is more about how the writer sees the word or term. Your goal would be to convince your readers that your way of understanding the term is ideal. You may also want to argue about why a proper understanding of the term is important. You could support this by considering the negative consequences of misunderstanding the term.

This type of definition focus works well with abstract terms that can be understood in different ways, such as feminism , education , success , and happiness . Stipulative definitions also work well if you’re creating and explaining your own term or concept.

After choosing the word or term you want to define, think about what your purpose will be. Why are you defining it? Your assignment prompt may give you some direction here, but if not, you’ll still need a purpose. The purpose coordinates with your audience and provides guidance as you write. Here are some general purposes you might consider.

In a sense, all essays are meant to inform. If informing is the primary purpose of your definition essay, you might be working with a word, term, or denotation that you know is unfamiliar to your readers. You would probably present an extended definition to teach the readers about the word’s:

historical context of when it was in peak use (for archaic or rarely used words)

Presenting a New View

You can use a definition essay to present a new view of a word or term. A new view could help you show the concept in a different light.

Defining “fail” or “failure.” This word has a negative denotation and most often a negative connotation as well. However, you could define the term in a more positive context, arguing that failure is a necessary step in understanding ourselves better, refining our goals, and ultimately achieving success.

Clearing Up Misconceptions

Addressing misconceptions is your purpose if you are trying to correct a misunderstanding or misconception about a word. It’s similar to presenting a new view, but the argumentative component is stronger. You’re not only showing readers something new but also persuading readers to change their minds about something.

Some terms are often debated, such as the concept of freedom. We use this word a lot, but what does it mean to be free? Do any laws we dislike and don’t want to follow keep us from being free? Do some laws or regulations inhibit freedom while others don’t? Can some laws and restrictions actually support freedom? You could develop a definition of freedom while arguing against alternative definitions.

Having an audience in mind will help you shape and focus your material. The audience and purpose should coordinate. Ask yourself:

What about this definition is meaningful to the audience?
What tone (academic, casual, etc.) is appropriate to use?
How much information does the audience already know?
Would the audience have questions, concerns, or objections?

All of these factors influence what information you present and how you present it. You must approach the purpose in a way that would be meaningful and convincing to the target audience.

Developing Your Definition Essay

Once you have a word or concept you want to define and a sense of your audience and purpose, you can start developing your essay. Let’s look at tips for each section.

Introduction + Thesis Statement

Your introduction presents the topic in a way that is engaging for the target audience. Since most topics start off pretty broad, an introduction also starts by guiding readers to your specific focus. Like everything in an essay, choose an introduction for its connection to the purpose and audience. Here are some possible strategies:

Tell a brief anecdote related to the topic.
Present the debate relevant to the topic. This would be especially useful if your goal is to clarify misconceptions about a word or if your word connects to a contentious issue.
Describe a scene or situation relevant to the topic.
Ask a relevant question to encourage curiosity about the topic.
Narrate a brief situation or conversation relevant to the topic.
Give a significant quotation related to the topic.

In general, a thesis presents your topic and the claim you are making about the topic. The denotation might be your starting point, and your thesis explains how your essay will go beyond the denotation. The thesis should let the reader know what insight you’ll be presenting or what claim you’ll be making about the word.

Think about what you’ll need to do to develop a well-rounded, thorough definition that addresses your thesis and purpose. Some means of developing your definition include:

Exploring denotations and connotations
Situating your term in its cultural and/or historical context
Discussing how it is used and citing examples
Comparing words or usage

Before you turn in that paper, don’t forget to cite your sources in APA format , MLA format , or a style of your choice.

The purpose of a conclusion is to signal closure. Here are some ways you might do that:

Reinforce the central message of the thesis.
Briefly summarize key takeaways of the essay. (This is more useful in longer or more complicated essays.)
Give a call to action. What should the reader do now that they know the information you’ve given them? This might be especially good if the term you’ve defined relates to a social issue or debate.
Reinforce the significance of your definition or provide some final wisdom relating to it.
Return to the introduction in some way to create a “frame” for the essay. This works especially well if your introduction is an anecdote or refers to an event or situation. Returning to the introduction might mean adding to the anecdote or referencing the event, considering the information and insight in the essay.

As you write, always keep your audience and purpose in mind. Don’t be afraid to change or refine your focus as you go. This is often part of working through your ideas and developing a strong essay.

Example Definition Essay on Defining Tragedy as a Form of Drama

By Ericka Scott Nelson. Ericka earned a MA in English from the University of California, Riverside. She teaches composition at a community college.

Common Writing Assignments, Apps & Tests

Analytical Essay
AP synthesis Essay
Argumentative Essay
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Cause and Effect Essay
College Admissions Essay
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Definition Essay
Descriptive Essay
Dissertation
Explanatory Essay
Expository Essay
Informative Essay
Narrative Essay
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Personal Essay
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How to Write a Definition Essay: Student's Simple Solution

Ever struggled to define a complex concept? Definition essays offer a solution. They go beyond dictionary entries, exploring the depths of a word's meaning and its background.

When you write a definition essay, you're showing that you really understand the word and what it stands for. You might be explaining big ideas like love or freedom or things like technology or democracy. But whatever word you choose, your goal is the same: to explain it so well that your readers really get it.

In this article, our rewrite essay service will show you step-by-step instructions on how to write a definition essay. We'll give you practical advice and examples that make it easy to write a strong essay that people will find interesting and clear.

What is a Definition Essay

Definition essay is a type of academic writing that explains a term by defining its meaning or clarifying which meaning is intended if a word has multiple meanings.

For example, a writer might need to define "networking" to someone unfamiliar with the concept of business or the term "organic" to someone new to healthy eating. If a writer calls a friend "ambitious," the friend might ask for the definition of that word. People might also debate the meaning of the word "success" even if they have similar goals. Clearly, definitions are crucial for clear communication and definition essays help readers see beyond the basic dictionary definition, allowing them to fully understand the term or concept being discussed.

Guide on How to Write Definition Essay

A definition essay has a basic structure: an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. What makes it engaging is how you explore the term in the body paragraphs.

Introduction

The introduction serves to introduce the term you are defining and set the stage for the discussion that follows. Here's what each part typically involves:

Attention-grabbing element: Begin with something that catches the reader's interest. Engage them from the start and make them curious about the term you will define.
A brief overview of the term: Briefly explain the term you are defining, why it is important and what significance it holds in different contexts. This sets up the framework for your essay and gives readers a clear understanding of what to expect.
Definition and interpretation: Offer your interpretation or definition of the term, including your perspective on what the term means, how it is commonly understood, and any nuances or complexities associated with it.

Example of a Thesis Statement

"The concept of 'home' goes beyond a physical place, encompassing a sense of belonging and emotional attachment that varies from person to person."

Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs explore different angles of the term to support your thesis:

Discuss where the term came from and how its meaning has changed over time. This historical perspective helps readers understand its current significance.
Look up the term in dictionaries or academic sources and compare these definitions with your own interpretation to show how the term can be understood in different ways.
Share your own thoughts and experiences related to the term and use examples to explain what the term means to you personally.
Include perspectives from experts who study the term. Compare their views with yours to show different viewpoints and add credibility to your essay.
Explore how the term is used in society or popular culture and discuss what this reveals about our values and beliefs.

The conclusion summarizes the main points from the body paragraphs. It reinforces why understanding the term is important and encourages precise use of the term in discussions. It also encourages readers to think critically about how they define and use the term in their own lives.

Definition Essay Checklist

Before we move on to the writing guide, here's a brief checklist for writing a definition essay prepared by our research paper writer :

Step 📘	Description 📝
🔍Choosing a Term
📖Research
💡Thesis Statement
📝Introduction
📑Body Paragraphs
✅Conclusion

Definition Essay Examples

Here's an example of a definition essay from our custom essay service. Feel free to study its structure and format to guide your own work. If you're interested, you can always buy essay cheap and get high-quality paper from our platform at any time.

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Commonly Used Definition Essay Types

When choosing an intriguing term with a rich historical background for your definition essay, it's essential to carefully consider your options and determine the most effective approach. Here are some common types, as suggested by our dissertation writing help :

Analysis : Break down the topic into its constituent parts and define each part separately.
Classification : Determine the categories under which the topic can be classified.
Comparison : Highlight the uniqueness of the topic by comparing and contrasting it with more common subjects.
Details : Identify the key traits and distinctive qualities that best encapsulate the central idea of your essay.
Negation : Clarify what your topic is, not to narrow down its definition.
Origins and Causes : Explore the historical origins and background of the concept, examining where it first appeared and any relevant historical details.
Results, Effects, and Uses : Discuss the consequences, effects, and practical applications of the subject matter.

Definition Essay Topics

To choose a good topic for a definition essay, aim for a term that can be explored in depth, allowing for various interpretations and perspectives. Here are some ideas across different themes:

My grandma always said, "home is where the heart is." What does that truly mean?
Imagine a world with no deadlines. How would you define "success" in such a place?
One day, a friend asks you, "What is courage?" How would you explain it using a personal story?
You stumble upon a time capsule from the past. What makes something worthy of being called a "memory"?
After a big fight, you and your sibling need to rebuild trust. How would you define "forgiveness"?
Can something be beautiful if it's dangerous? Define "beauty" considering both sides.
When is a lie okay? Explore the definition of "honesty" with some gray areas.
Does friendship require in-person interaction? Define "friendship" in the age of technology.
Is there a difference between being lucky and being skilled? Define the role of "chance" in success.
What separates a hobby from a passion? Define the concept of "dedication."
When does inspiration become copying? Define "originality" in the creative world.
Can there be privacy in a world of social media? Define the boundaries of "personal space" in the digital age.
Is there a right way to grieve? Define "loss" and the healthy ways to cope with it.
What separates a dream from a delusion? Define the role of "ambition" in achieving goals.
Is there such a thing as a perfect moment? Define "happiness" considering its fleeting nature.

Tips for Definition Essay Writing Process

Here you'll find some great tips from our essay writer to transform your frown into a confident writer's grin:

Pick a rich term: Don't settle for basic words. Choose something with layers of meaning and history, like a concept with positive and negative sides (e.g., "power," "courage").
Examples are king: Use real-life stories of successful people to illustrate your points. This makes your definition clear and relatable.
Go beyond dictionary definitions: Explore the different ways your term is understood. A hug can show "love," but so can standing up for someone.
Use contrasting examples: Don't just pile on positive examples. Show the complexity of your term by using contrasting situations (e.g., "Innovation can lead to lifesaving inventions, but also carries the risk of unintended consequences").
Quote the experts: Don't be afraid to integrate short, relevant quotes from philosophers, authors, or historical figures to strengthen your argument.

Final Words

As we conclude, we hope you now understand how to write it and feel ready to tackle your own. Meanwhile, you can always avoid confusion with our academic writing assistance. Whether you need help brainstorming topics, crafting an analytical piece, or any other writing support, we can help. Order essay today, and let us guide you toward clarity and knowledge!

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How to Start a Definition Essay?

What is a definition essay example, what is the structure of a definition essay.

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is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

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https://www.apsu.edu/writingcenter/writing-resources/definition-essay-handout-2022.pdf . (n.d.-b).
Publisher, A. R. a. R. O. O. (2015, October 27). 10.6 definition . Pressbooks. https://open.lib.umn.edu/writingforsuccess/chapter/10-6-definition/

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How to Write a Definition Essay: Structure, Outline, Samples

Updated 30 Aug 2024

Learn the elements, outline, and logic behind a definition essay. Explore different types of definitions and their functions. Get tips on writing a solid essay, avoiding common mistakes, and crafting a strong thesis statement. Find inspiration and ideas through definition essay example.

So what is a definition essay ? As the name suggests, a definition essay is an essay that explains in detail a certain term or concept. However, instead of being limited to a simple dictionary definition, which normally takes a few phrases, such an essay contains an extended definition that includes additional details, such as examples, descriptions, an analysis of this term and other related ones, etc. Importantly, such essays present your personal opinion about corresponding concepts.

Knowing how to write a definition essay requires a good understanding of the required elements, outline, structure, logic as described below. These essays are important since they require integration of a few interpretations on the same concepts, making clear distinctions and generalizations, providing personal interpretations, etc.

Try to write the best definitive essay with the help of our guide!

The List of Essay Definitions Encountered in Academic Writing

As a rule, before you start with the first paragraph of your definition essay, it is crucial to understand all the different types that will make your writing fit the situation and academic objectives. Therefore, when you have something great for your thesis statement and topic sentences, consider these types of definitions first:

Analytical . As the title implies, you must use analysis and divide your subject into several parts by approaching each aspect individually. Use one paragraph per idea.
Classification . It means that you can apply systematization for your definition essay and find similarities or specific factors to classify your issues or processes.
Comparison . Just like classification type, you have to find elements that stand out and compare and contrast various things that differ or appear the same. Your thesis must sum up these differences.
Detailed Method . This is where you must focus on certain characteristics and let your audience focus on details to understand the subject well.
Negation Approach . It means that writing a definition essay you should use your arguments clearly to prevent your audience from a wrong understanding of a problem. In simple terms, it tells people what your issue is not.
Origins & Causes . This is where you tell about the origins of your issue or things that have caused some event or changes. Remember to provide background information and the reasons why something is important.
Scientific Problem . As a rule, it means that you should synthesize available information and explain the ways how something is used or studied by your fellow researchers.

Of course, you can always combine these different essay definition types for the best results, which is acceptable! Remember that it should also contain your thoughts and additions if it is applicable.

If you are looking for interesting exemplification essay examples , EduBirdie has some for you. These examples can provide you with inspiration and ideas on how to effectively use exemplification in your essay, showcasing real-life examples and evidence to support your arguments.

General Definition Essay Structure

Like with other essay types, definition essay format follows the following basic structure:

Introduction - lists standard explanations and raises important rhetorical questions attempting to interpret them, it may list interesting facts related to the background of these terms (but not only), anecdotes, funny cases, personal experience, etc. Altogether, this helps in hooking attention and providing necessary background that would allow diving deeper into the matter.
Thesis Statement – this is not a distinct section but rather, a key element of the introduction. For definitive essay, it should state a generalized and comprehensive personal definition. It should be formulated as an arguable claim that closely summarizes the paper’s essence.
Main body. All paragraphs should be related to this thesis through topic sentences – normally, this is the first sentence in a paragraph. Subsequent sentences constituting the paragraph explain them, support with arguments, provide evidence and examples, etc. Paragraphs should end up with concluding sentences, which synthesize the content presented within these paragraphs, or with transitioning sentences that help introduce subsequent paragraphs for smoother content flow.
Conclusion – this is where thesis is restated considering all ideas, arguments, and evidence that has been provided. Apart from synthesizing information, conclusions may suggest related topics for exploration.

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Definition Essay Outline and Its Constitution

When assembling an essay outline, it is useful to consider what type of paragraphs and how many of each should be included and in what order. In terms of meaning, such types of essays have the following sections or paragraphs:

Denotation – this part provides direct concept explanations, for instance, dictionary or formal interpretations integrated from multiple sources. This section is normally shorter and could be limited to one paragraph. If you are wondering how to start a definition essay, opening your essay by listing formal dictionary explanations would be perfectly acceptable and even fairly standard.
Connotation – in this part, one describes related ideas or term implications, including from a personal perspective or judgement. A good method for identifying connotations is looking up the word in a thesaurus. The connotation part is typically more voluminous, being spread across multiple paragraphs.

Judged by their specific function, paragraphs can either:

Describe – provide description of the words in detail; describe perspectives, standard or peculiar interpretations, worldviews, etc.
Analyze – these paragraphs could dissect complex words or expressions into individual parts and analyze each of these separately, as well as in combination. This could be done, for instance, with terms “self-sufficiency”, (“self” + “sufficiency”) or “gratefulness” (“grate” + ”fulness”). Obviously, such “linguistic” analysis does not apply to simple words like “hate”, “respect”, etc. However, each word may be analyzed for multiple meanings, for instance globalization may be viewed as globalization of culture, of knowledge, commerce, lifestyle, life-quality expectations, etc.
Exemplify – providing an eloquent and detailed example to accompany complex interpretations or argument increases understanding of it by readers, hence this is mandatory for good writing. Including good analogies has similar effects.
Compare and contrast. These paragraphs help differentiate discussed words or concepts by strictly defining their boundaries and by highlighting similarities and differences between compared terms.
Negate . One way of defining concepts is to tell what they are not – this is especially useful for closely related concepts.
Provide background with regard to history and origin. While this is not practical for common words, it makes sense for neologisms, professional terms, and some other words whose origin is easily tracked (for instance, “democracy”).

Consider definition essay outline and structural requirements along with what types of paragraphs would constitute your essays and what they would be exactly about and you’ll end up with definitive and solid outline.

Tips On How to Write a Definition Essay

Although it may not sound application to writing a definition essay, it must inspire you or motivate you to know your subject because the purpose is to sound confident and clear as you deliver the facts and deliver some important concepts. Here are some tips you must consider before you start writing:

Start With a List of Sources . Never ignore starting with a list of good references that will help you to support your existing perception of some subject. Remember about citation rules and do not overdo your quoting because it can lead to increased similarity rates and plagiarism risks.
Proofread & Edit . Always proofread your definition essay to eliminate repetitions and the weak parts that may sound confusing to your reader. Pay attention to possible grammar and spelling issues. By doing so, you can improve your final grade and avoid those minor mistakes. It is also good to proofread your paper aloud to ensure that it sounds right.
Check The Requires Structure . Even if you may think that you already know it all, it is recommended to check your grading rubric twice in terms of structure and the required paragraphs.
Research Your Subject . It means that even if you have a good list of sources, you must provide your audience with an unbiased outlook. It will take some time to read through the various sources to determine how the subject is approached by others. Make sure that you check more than one source or dictionary for your definition. Writing a definition essay, doing so will give you a full picture and various semantic meanings.
Avoid Copying Definitions . Do not copy definitions word-by-word even if you are turning to some dictionary. It is recommended to express your thoughts and paraphrase things to provide a better definition without plagiarism even if it is unintentional.

Common Mistakes That Occur While Writing Interpretations

Below, we list some usual mistakes made when writing definition essay:

Choosing topics that are either too narrow or concrete to allow extended definitions, various perspectives or interpretations. Rather than choosing terms like “Cold War”, “TV mass culture” more general and broad definition essay topics should be used, such as “war”, “culture”, “freedom”, “dignity”, “innovation”, etc.
Selecting topics that are overly broad or that represent little potential for captivating discussion: “work”, “rain”, “sand”. It is generally advisable to choose controversial topics or concepts whose understanding varies significantly among individuals and might even be associated with conflicting positions.
Failing to research term properly. Knowing how to define a word in an essay exhaustively implies working with dictionaries. Ignoring these results in a serious mistake, since these normally list all known word meanings in various contexts – exploring how concepts change depending on context is an important starting point for writing definition essays. Combining several good dictionaries could be especially powerful – this will help cover the entire semantic space of a given word, guiding further interpretations and description of connotations.
Quoting overly lengthy formulations exactly as found in dictionaries – this should be avoided since it affects your level of uniqueness and may be treated as plagiarism by many software tools.

If you are keen to avoid mistakes, consider contracting our academic assistance service. Apart from definition essays, our writers are familiar with definition narrative essay, research papers, laboratory reports, coursework, case studies, capstone projects, speeches, how to write an informative essay , and virtually any other type of writing help one can imagine.

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Definition Essay Example for Students

Given that definition essay example can be much more helpful in familiarizing readers with this type of essay, below we provide such a sample (the thesis is italicized).

Justice Justice is hugely important element for relationships between individuals and virtually for any human group, however small – obviously, this applies to society as a whole. Commonly understood meaning of justice is adherence to fairness and impartiality whenever dealing with other people or when conflicts management, be it in daily life or within the frames of legal system. The Cambridge online dictionary defines justice as "fairness in the way people are dealt with" or "the condition of being morally correct or fair". As a law term, it is "the system of laws in a country by which people are judged and punished". Moreover, here in the US, it also means a "judge in a law court". The Merriam-Webster dictionary adds a few other unique definitions, for instance "the maintenance or administration of what is just" for instance, by justly managing conflicting claims, rewarding, and punishing. Other definitions are "conformity to truth, fact, or reason", "the principle or ideal of just dealing or right action" but also conformity to this principle (righteousness). Thus, apart from being used to designate judges, all formal interpretations of justice, in a way or another, deal with fair treatment, regardless of whether individuals, groups, or state institutions are considered. Hence, this is regarded as the core and fairly universal meaning of the term. Importantly, many dictionaries mention impartiality as an essential component of this treatment. Impartiality ensures that deliverers of justice put fairness principles above their own interests and above interests of any given actor involved in conflicts that are managed. Apart from this, when thinking about justice or justice deliverers, the following concepts are implied: integrity, honesty, equity, adherence to truth and law, legitimacy. Nevertheless, understanding of justice differs greatly across individuals but also across societies and cultural groups, which ultimately reflects in laws. For instance, principle of “an eye for an eye” practiced under Iran’s sharia law may seem totally weird here, in the US or western world, where we are used with standardized punishments proportional to crime gravity, such as incarceration, monetary fines, property sequestration. A renowned example involved an Iranian man who blinded a woman using acid and who was sentenced in 2008 to the same punishment. Thus, justice is essentially fair, impartial treatment, be it in interpersonal or collective interaction and whether it is reflected in simple actions or in laws. Importantly, this term has to be examined within societal and cultural context, as notions may vary significantly depending on this.

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What makes a good definition essay?

A good definition essay will achieve three goals: it will tell your readers about what is being defined; it will present you with clear and basic information; it will turn to facts and good real-life examples that will help people to understand things. After all, it is the purpose of a good definition essay. Remember to make it vivid and accessible.

How to start a definition essay?

You should start with a good introduction to your subject. Make sure that you provide information about why something is important and how or why it is approached by the academic community or professionals in your field. Start with the most common definition that fits your topic and continue with the less common types.

How do you write a thesis statement for a definition essay?

An introduction of a definition essay ends with a thesis that should express personal and generalized definitions or interpretations of the explored concepts. These arguable statements are the focal points of definition essays, which means that papers revolve entirely around these. The thesis needs to be general enough to connect with and cover all paragraph topic sentences.

How do you write a definition term?

Picking terms for such essays is done by considering how interesting or controversial the topics are, whether they engulf definitions that vary depending on different circumstances or contexts, whether they allow multiple perspectives, views, including conflictual, whether the author is familiar with these terms and provide an interpretation of these, etc.

How do you organize a definition essay?

Organizing essays involves considering the traditional structure, according to which there is an introduction, main body, conclusion, but also deciding how many paragraphs should be used for each section and what information should be each paragraph’s function: denotation, connotation, description, analysis, exemplification, comparison, etc.

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Module 3: Definition Essay

How to write a definition essay.

Part 1 of 3: Choosing the Right Word

1: choose an abstract word with a complex meaning. [1].

A simple word that refers to a concrete word will not give you much to write about, but a complex word that refers to an abstract concept provides more material to explore.

Typically, nouns that refer to a person, place, or thing are too simple for a definition essay. Nouns that refer to an idea work better, however, as do most adjectives.
For example, the word “house” is fairly simple and an essay written around it may be dull. By switching to something slightly more abstract like “home,” however, you can play around with the definition more. A “home” is a concept, and there are many elements involved in the creation of a “home.” In comparison, a “house” is merely a structure.

2: Make sure that the word is disputable.

Aside from being complex, the word should also refer to something that can mean different things to different people.

A definition essay is somewhat subjective by nature since it requires you to analyze and define a word from your own perspective. If the answer you come up with after analyzing a word is the same answer anyone else would come up with, your essay may appear to lack depth.

3: Choose a word you have some familiarity with.

For instance, if you have never heard the term “pedantic,” your understanding of the word will be limited. You can introduce yourself to the word for your essay, but without previous understanding of the concept, you will not know if the definition you describe is truly fitting.

4: Read the dictionary definition.

As an example, one definition of “friend” is “a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.” [2] Your own ideas or beliefs about what a “friend” really is likely include much more information, but this basic definition can present you with a good starting point in forming your own.

5: Research the word’s origins.

Look up your chosen word in the Oxford English Dictionary or in another etymology dictionary. [3]

These sources can tell you the history behind a word, which can provide further insight on a general definition as well as information about how a word came to mean what it means today.

Part 2 of 3: Potential Elements of an Effective Definition

1: write an analysis. [4].

Separate a word into various parts. Analyze and define each part in its own paragraph.

You can separate “return” into “re-” and “turn.” The word “friendship” can be separated into “friend” and “ship.”
In order to analyze each portion of a word, you will still need to use additional defining tactics like negation and classification.
Note that this tactic only works for words that contain multiple parts. The word “love,” for instance, cannot be broken down any further. If defining “platonic love,” though, you could define both “platonic” and “love” separately within your essay.

2: Classify the term.

Specify what classes and parts of speech a word belongs to according to a standard dictionary definition.

While this information is very basic and dry, it can provide helpful context about the way that a given word is used.

3: Compare an unfamiliar term to something familiar.

An unfamiliar or uncommon concept can be explained using concepts that are more accessible to the average person.

Many people have never heard of the term “confrere,” for instance. One basic definition is “a fellow member of a profession, fraternity, etc.” As such, you could compare “confrere” with “colleague,” which is a similar yet more familiar concept. [5]

4: Provide traditional details about the term.

Explain any physical characteristics or traditional thoughts used to describe your term of choice.

The term “home” is often visualized physically as a house or apartment. In more abstract terms, “home” is traditionally thought to be a warm, cozy, and safe environment. You can include all of these features in a definition essay on “home.”

5: Use examples to illustrate the meaning.

People often relate to stories and vivid images, so using a fitting story or image that relates to the term can be used in clarifying an abstract, formless concept.

In a definition essay about “kindness,” for example, you could write about an act of kindness you recently witnessed. Someone who mows the lawn of an elderly neighbor is a valid example, just as someone who gave you an encouraging word when you were feeling down might be.

6: Use negation to explain what the term does not mean.

If a term is often misused or misunderstood, mentioning what it is not is an effective way to bring the concept into focus.

A common example would be the term “courage.” The term is often associated with a lack of fear, but many will argue that “courage” is more accurately described as acting in spite of fear.

7: Provide background information.

This is when your research about the etymology of a word will come in handy. Explain where the term originated and how it came to mean what it currently means.

Part 3 of 3: Definition Essay Structure

1: introduce the standard definition..

You need to clearly state what your word is along with its traditional or dictionary definition in your introductory paragraph.

By opening with the dictionary definition of your term, you create context and a basic level of knowledge about the word. This will allow you to introduce and elaborate on your own definition.
This is especially significant when the traditional definition of your term varies from your own definition in notable ways.

2: Define the term in your own words in your thesis.

Your actual thesis statement should define the term in your own words.

Keep the definition in your thesis brief and basic. You will elaborate on it more in the body of your paper.
Avoid using passive phrases involving the word “is” when defining your term. The phrases “is where” and “is when” are especially clunky. [6]
Do not repeat part of the defined term in your definition.

3: Separate different parts of the definition into separate paragraphs.

Each tactic or method used to define your term should be explored in a separate paragraph.

Note that you do not need to use all the possible methods of defining a term in your essay. You should use a variety of different methods in order to create a full, well-rounded picture of the term, but some tactics will work great with some terms but not with others.

4: Conclude with a summary of your main points.

Briefly summarize your main points around the start of your concluding paragraph.

This summary does not need to be elaborate. Usually, looking at the topic sentence of each body paragraph is a good way to form a simple list of your main points.
You can also draw the essay to a close by referring to phrases or images evoked in your introduction.

5: Mention how the definition has affected you, if desired.

If the term you define plays a part in your own life and experiences, your final concluding remarks are a good place to briefly mention the role it plays.

Relate your experience with the term to the definition you created for it in your thesis. Avoid sharing experiences that relate to the term but contradict everything you wrote in your essay.

Sources and Citations

http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/Definition.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/friend?s=t
http://www.etymonline.com/
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/definition.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/confrere?s=t
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/definition.htm
How to Write a Definition Essay. Provided by : WikiHow. Located at : http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Definition-Essay . License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Definition of Essay

Types of essay, examples of essay in literature, example #1: the sacred grove of oshogbo (by jeffrey tayler).

“As I passed through the gates I heard a squeaky voice . A diminutive middle-aged man came out from behind the trees — the caretaker. He worked a toothbrush-sized stick around in his mouth, digging into the crevices between algae’d stubs of teeth. He was barefoot; he wore a blue batik shirt known as a buba, baggy purple trousers, and an embroidered skullcap. I asked him if he would show me around the shrine. Motioning me to follow, he spat out the results of his stick work and set off down the trail.”

Example #2: Of Love (By Francis Bacon)

“It is impossible to love, and be wise … Love is a child of folly. … Love is ever rewarded either with the reciprocal, or with an inward and secret contempt. You may observe that amongst all the great and worthy persons…there is not one that hath been transported to the mad degree of love: which shows that great spirits and great business do keep out this weak passion…That he had preferred Helena, quitted the gifts of Juno and Pallas. For whosoever esteemeth too much of amorous affection quitted both riches and wisdom.”

Example #3: The Autobiography of a Kettle (By John Russell)

“ I am afraid I do not attract attention, and yet there is not a single home in which I could done without. I am only a small, black kettle but I have much to interest me, for something new happens to me every day. The kitchen is not always a cheerful place in which to live, but still I find plenty of excitement there, and I am quite happy and contented with my lot …”

Function of Essay

What Are the Different Types and Characteristics of Essays?

An Introduction to Punctuation
Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
B.A., English, State University of New York

The term essay comes from the French for "trial" or "attempt." French author Michel de Montaigne coined the term when he assigned the title Essais to his first publication in 1580. In "Montaigne: A Biography" (1984), Donald Frame notes that Montaigne "often used the verb essayer (in modern French, normally to try ) in ways close to his project, related to experience, with the sense of trying out or testing."

An essay is a short work of nonfiction , while a writer of essays is called an essayist. In writing instruction, essay is often used as another word for composition . In an essay, an authorial voice (or narrator ) typically invites an implied reader (the audience ) to accept as authentic a certain textual mode of experience.

Definitions and Observations

"[An essay is a] composition , usually in prose .., which may be of only a few hundred words (like Bacon's "Essays") or of book length (like Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding") and which discusses, formally or informally, a topic or a variety of topics." (J.A. Cuddon, "Dictionary of Literary Terms". Basil, 1991)
" Essays are how we speak to one another in print — caroming thoughts not merely in order to convey a certain packet of information, but with a special edge or bounce of personal character in a kind of public letter." (Edward Hoagland, Introduction, "The Best American Essays : 1999". Houghton, 1999)
"[T]he essay traffics in fact and tells the truth, yet it seems to feel free to enliven, to shape, to embellish, to make use as necessary of elements of the imaginative and the fictive — thus its inclusion in that rather unfortunate current designation ' creative nonfiction .'" (G. Douglas Atkins, "Reading Essays: An Invitation". University of Georgia Press, 2007)

Montaigne's Autobiographical Essays "Although Michel de Montaigne, who fathered the modern essay in the 16th century, wrote autobiographically (like the essayists who claim to be his followers today), his autobiography was always in the service of larger existential discoveries. He was forever on the lookout for life lessons. If he recounted the sauces he had for dinner and the stones that weighted his kidney, it was to find an element of truth that we could put in our pockets and carry away, that he could put in his own pocket. After all, Philosophy — which is what he thought he practiced in his essays, as had his idols, Seneca and Cicero, before him — is about 'learning to live.' And here lies the problem with essayists today: not that they speak of themselves, but that they do so with no effort to make their experience relevant or useful to anyone else, with no effort to extract from it any generalizable insight into the human condition." (Cristina Nehring, "What’s Wrong With the American Essay." Truthdig, Nov. 29, 2007)

The Artful Formlessness of the Essay "[G]ood essays are works of literary art. Their supposed formlessness is more a strategy to disarm the reader with the appearance of unstudied spontaneity than a reality of composition. . . . "The essay form as a whole has long been associated with an experimental method. This idea goes back to Montaigne and his endlessly suggestive use of the term essai for his writing. To essay is to attempt, to test, to make a run at something without knowing whether you are going to succeed. The experimental association also derives from the other fountain-head of the essay, Francis Bacon , and his stress on the empirical inductive method, so useful in the development of the social sciences." (Phillip Lopate, "The Art of the Personal Essay". Anchor, 1994)

Articles vs. Essays "[W]hat finally distinguishes an essay from an article may just be the author's gumption, the extent to which personal voice, vision, and style are the prime movers and shapers, even though the authorial 'I' may be only a remote energy, nowhere visible but everywhere present." (Justin Kaplan, ed. "The Best American Essays: 1990". Ticknor & Fields, 1990) "I am predisposed to the essay with knowledge to impart — but, unlike journalism, which exists primarily to present facts, the essays transcend their data, or transmute it into personal meaning. The memorable essay, unlike the article, is not place or time-bound; it survives the occasion of its original composition. Indeed, in the most brilliant essays, language is not merely the medium of communication ; it is communication." (Joyce Carol Oates, quoted by Robert Atwan in "The Best American Essays, College Edition", 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, 1998) "I speak of a 'genuine' essay because fakes abound. Here the old-fashioned term poetaster may apply, if only obliquely. As the poetaster is to the poet — a lesser aspirant — so the average article is to the essay: a look-alike knockoff guaranteed not to wear well. An article is often gossip. An essay is reflection and insight. An article often has the temporary advantage of social heat — what's hot out there right now. An essay's heat is interior. An article can be timely, topical, engaged in the issues and personalities of the moment; it is likely to be stale within the month. In five years it may have acquired the quaint aura of a rotary phone. An article is usually Siamese-twinned to its date of birth. An essay defies its date of birth — and ours, too. (A necessary caveat: some genuine essays are popularly called 'articles' — but this is no more than an idle, though persistent, habit of speech. What's in a name? The ephemeral is the ephemeral. The enduring is the enduring.)" (Cynthia Ozick, "SHE: Portrait of the Essay as a Warm Body." The Atlantic Monthly, September 1998)

The Status of the Essay "Though the essay has been a popular form of writing in British and American periodicals since the 18th century, until recently its status in the literary canon has been, at best, uncertain. Relegated to the composition class, frequently dismissed as mere journalism, and generally ignored as an object for serious academic study, the essay has sat, in James Thurber's phrase, ' on the edge of the chair of Literature.' "In recent years, however, prompted by both a renewed interest in rhetoric and by poststructuralist redefinitions of literature itself, the essay — as well as such related forms of 'literary nonfiction' as biography , autobiography , and travel and nature writing — has begun to attract increasing critical attention and respect." (Richard Nordquist, "Essay," in "Encylopedia of American Literature", ed. S. R. Serafin. Continuum, 1999)

The Contemporary Essay "At present, the American magazine essay , both the long feature piece and the critical essay, is flourishing, in unlikely circumstances... "There are plenty of reasons for this. One is that magazines, big and small, are taking over some of the cultural and literary ground vacated by newspapers in their seemingly unstoppable evaporation. Another is that the contemporary essay has for some time now been gaining energy as an escape from, or rival to, the perceived conservatism of much mainstream fiction... "So the contemporary essay is often to be seen engaged in acts of apparent anti-novelization: in place of plot , there is drift or the fracture of numbered paragraphs; in place of a frozen verisimilitude, there may be a sly and knowing movement between reality and fictionality; in place of the impersonal author of standard-issue third-person realism, the authorial self pops in and out of the picture, with a liberty hard to pull off in fiction." (James Wood, "Reality Effects." The New Yorker, Dec. 19 & 26, 2011)

The Lighter Side of Essays: "The Breakfast Club" Essay Assignment "All right people, we're going to try something a little different today. We are going to write an essay of not less than a thousand words describing to me who you think you are. And when I say 'essay,' I mean 'essay,' not one word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear, Mr. Bender?" (Paul Gleason as Mr. Vernon) Saturday, March 24, 1984 Shermer High School Shermer, Illinois 60062 Dear Mr. Vernon, We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did was wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us — in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That's the way we saw each other at seven o'clock this morning. We were brainwashed... But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain and an athlete and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club (Anthony Michael Hall as Brian Johnson, "The Breakfast Club", 1985)

Definition and Examples of Formal Essays
Conclusion in Compositions
Definition and Examples of Evaluation Essays
Models of Composition
Understanding Organization in Composition and Speech
Thesis: Definition and Examples in Composition
Development in Composition: Building an Essay
List (Grammar and Sentence Styles)
Definition and Examples of Transitional Paragraphs
Definition and Examples of Vignettes in Prose
Composition Type: Problem-Solution Essays
Mood in Composition and Literature
Learn How to Use Extended Definitions in Essays and Speeches
Definition and Examples of Body Paragraphs in Composition
Periodical Essay Definition and Examples
What Is Prose?

Frequently asked questions

What is an essay.

An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.

Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.

Frequently asked questions: Writing an essay

For a stronger conclusion paragraph, avoid including:

Important evidence or analysis that wasn’t mentioned in the main body
Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion…”)
Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g. “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

Your essay’s conclusion should contain:

A rephrased version of your overall thesis
A brief review of the key points you made in the main body
An indication of why your argument matters

The conclusion may also reflect on the broader implications of your argument, showing how your ideas could applied to other contexts or debates.

The conclusion paragraph of an essay is usually shorter than the introduction . As a rule, it shouldn’t take up more than 10–15% of the text.

The “hook” is the first sentence of your essay introduction . It should lead the reader into your essay, giving a sense of why it’s interesting.

To write a good hook, avoid overly broad statements or long, dense sentences. Try to start with something clear, concise and catchy that will spark your reader’s curiosity.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

Let’s say you’re writing a five-paragraph essay about the environmental impacts of dietary choices. Here are three examples of topic sentences you could use for each of the three body paragraphs :

Research has shown that the meat industry has severe environmental impacts.
However, many plant-based foods are also produced in environmentally damaging ways.
It’s important to consider not only what type of diet we eat, but where our food comes from and how it is produced.

Each of these sentences expresses one main idea – by listing them in order, we can see the overall structure of the essay at a glance. Each paragraph will expand on the topic sentence with relevant detail, evidence, and arguments.

The topic sentence usually comes at the very start of the paragraph .

However, sometimes you might start with a transition sentence to summarize what was discussed in previous paragraphs, followed by the topic sentence that expresses the focus of the current paragraph.

Topic sentences help keep your writing focused and guide the reader through your argument.

In an essay or paper , each paragraph should focus on a single idea. By stating the main idea in the topic sentence, you clarify what the paragraph is about for both yourself and your reader.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

It gives your writing direction and focus.
It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

Ask a question about your topic .
Write your initial answer.
Develop your answer by including reasons.
Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

An essay isn’t just a loose collection of facts and ideas. Instead, it should be centered on an overarching argument (summarized in your thesis statement ) that every part of the essay relates to.

The way you structure your essay is crucial to presenting your argument coherently. A well-structured essay helps your reader follow the logic of your ideas and understand your overall point.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

The vast majority of essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Almost all academic writing involves building up an argument, though other types of essay might be assigned in composition classes.

Essays can present arguments about all kinds of different topics. For example:

In a literary analysis essay, you might make an argument for a specific interpretation of a text
In a history essay, you might present an argument for the importance of a particular event
In a politics essay, you might argue for the validity of a certain political theory

At high school and in composition classes at university, you’ll often be told to write a specific type of essay , but you might also just be given prompts.

Look for keywords in these prompts that suggest a certain approach: The word “explain” suggests you should write an expository essay , while the word “describe” implies a descriptive essay . An argumentative essay might be prompted with the word “assess” or “argue.”

In rhetorical analysis , a claim is something the author wants the audience to believe. A support is the evidence or appeal they use to convince the reader to believe the claim. A warrant is the (often implicit) assumption that links the support with the claim.

Logos appeals to the audience’s reason, building up logical arguments . Ethos appeals to the speaker’s status or authority, making the audience more likely to trust them. Pathos appeals to the emotions, trying to make the audience feel angry or sympathetic, for example.

Collectively, these three appeals are sometimes called the rhetorical triangle . They are central to rhetorical analysis , though a piece of rhetoric might not necessarily use all of them.

The term “text” in a rhetorical analysis essay refers to whatever object you’re analyzing. It’s frequently a piece of writing or a speech, but it doesn’t have to be. For example, you could also treat an advertisement or political cartoon as a text.

The goal of a rhetorical analysis is to explain the effect a piece of writing or oratory has on its audience, how successful it is, and the devices and appeals it uses to achieve its goals.

Unlike a standard argumentative essay , it’s less about taking a position on the arguments presented, and more about exploring how they are constructed.

You should try to follow your outline as you write your essay . However, if your ideas change or it becomes clear that your structure could be better, it’s okay to depart from your essay outline . Just make sure you know why you’re doing so.

If you have to hand in your essay outline , you may be given specific guidelines stating whether you have to use full sentences. If you’re not sure, ask your supervisor.

When writing an essay outline for yourself, the choice is yours. Some students find it helpful to write out their ideas in full sentences, while others prefer to summarize them in short phrases.

You will sometimes be asked to hand in an essay outline before you start writing your essay . Your supervisor wants to see that you have a clear idea of your structure so that writing will go smoothly.

Even when you do not have to hand it in, writing an essay outline is an important part of the writing process . It’s a good idea to write one (as informally as you like) to clarify your structure for yourself whenever you are working on an essay.

Comparisons in essays are generally structured in one of two ways:

The alternating method, where you compare your subjects side by side according to one specific aspect at a time.
The block method, where you cover each subject separately in its entirety.

It’s also possible to combine both methods, for example by writing a full paragraph on each of your topics and then a final paragraph contrasting the two according to a specific metric.

Your subjects might be very different or quite similar, but it’s important that there be meaningful grounds for comparison . You can probably describe many differences between a cat and a bicycle, but there isn’t really any connection between them to justify the comparison.

You’ll have to write a thesis statement explaining the central point you want to make in your essay , so be sure to know in advance what connects your subjects and makes them worth comparing.

Some essay prompts include the keywords “compare” and/or “contrast.” In these cases, an essay structured around comparing and contrasting is the appropriate response.

Comparing and contrasting is also a useful approach in all kinds of academic writing : You might compare different studies in a literature review , weigh up different arguments in an argumentative essay , or consider different theoretical approaches in a theoretical framework .

The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

If you’re not given a specific prompt for your descriptive essay , think about places and objects you know well, that you can think of interesting ways to describe, or that have strong personal significance for you.

The best kind of object for a descriptive essay is one specific enough that you can describe its particular features in detail—don’t choose something too vague or general.

If you’re not given much guidance on what your narrative essay should be about, consider the context and scope of the assignment. What kind of story is relevant, interesting, and possible to tell within the word count?

The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to reflect on a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

Don’t worry too much if your topic seems unoriginal. The point of a narrative essay is how you tell the story and the point you make with it, not the subject of the story itself.

Narrative essays are usually assigned as writing exercises at high school or in university composition classes. They may also form part of a university application.

When you are prompted to tell a story about your own life or experiences, a narrative essay is usually the right response.

The majority of the essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Unless otherwise specified, you can assume that the goal of any essay you’re asked to write is argumentative: To convince the reader of your position using evidence and reasoning.

In composition classes you might be given assignments that specifically test your ability to write an argumentative essay. Look out for prompts including instructions like “argue,” “assess,” or “discuss” to see if this is the goal.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.

An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.

An expository essay is a common assignment in high-school and university composition classes. It might be assigned as coursework, in class, or as part of an exam.

Sometimes you might not be told explicitly to write an expository essay. Look out for prompts containing keywords like “explain” and “define.” An expository essay is usually the right response to these prompts.

An expository essay is a broad form that varies in length according to the scope of the assignment.

Expository essays are often assigned as a writing exercise or as part of an exam, in which case a five-paragraph essay of around 800 words may be appropriate.

You’ll usually be given guidelines regarding length; if you’re not sure, ask.

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What is an Essay?

10 May, 2020

11 minutes read

Author: Tomas White

Well, beyond a jumble of words usually around 2,000 words or so - what is an essay, exactly? Whether you’re taking English, sociology, history, biology, art, or a speech class, it’s likely you’ll have to write an essay or two. So how is an essay different than a research paper or a review? Let’s find out!

Defining the Term – What is an Essay?

The essay is a written piece that is designed to present an idea, propose an argument, express the emotion or initiate debate. It is a tool that is used to present writer’s ideas in a non-fictional way. Multiple applications of this type of writing go way beyond, providing political manifestos and art criticism as well as personal observations and reflections of the author.

An essay can be as short as 500 words, it can also be 5000 words or more. However, most essays fall somewhere around 1000 to 3000 words ; this word range provides the writer enough space to thoroughly develop an argument and work to convince the reader of the author’s perspective regarding a particular issue. The topics of essays are boundless: they can range from the best form of government to the benefits of eating peppermint leaves daily. As a professional provider of custom writing, our service has helped thousands of customers to turn in essays in various forms and disciplines.

Origins of the Essay

Over the course of more than six centuries essays were used to question assumptions, argue trivial opinions and to initiate global discussions. Let’s have a closer look into historical progress and various applications of this literary phenomenon to find out exactly what it is.

Today’s modern word “essay” can trace its roots back to the French “essayer” which translates closely to mean “to attempt” . This is an apt name for this writing form because the essay’s ultimate purpose is to attempt to convince the audience of something. An essay’s topic can range broadly and include everything from the best of Shakespeare’s plays to the joys of April.

The essay comes in many shapes and sizes; it can focus on a personal experience or a purely academic exploration of a topic. Essays are classified as a subjective writing form because while they include expository elements, they can rely on personal narratives to support the writer’s viewpoint. The essay genre includes a diverse array of academic writings ranging from literary criticism to meditations on the natural world. Most typically, the essay exists as a shorter writing form; essays are rarely the length of a novel. However, several historic examples, such as John Locke’s seminal work “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” just shows that a well-organized essay can be as long as a novel.

The Essay in Literature

The essay enjoys a long and renowned history in literature. They first began gaining in popularity in the early 16 th century, and their popularity has continued today both with original writers and ghost writers. Many readers prefer this short form in which the writer seems to speak directly to the reader, presenting a particular claim and working to defend it through a variety of means. Not sure if you’ve ever read a great essay? You wouldn’t believe how many pieces of literature are actually nothing less than essays, or evolved into more complex structures from the essay. Check out this list of literary favorites:

The Book of My Lives by Aleksandar Hemon
Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag
High-Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now and Never by Barbara Kingsolver
Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Naked by David Sedaris
Walden; or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau

Pretty much as long as writers have had something to say, they’ve created essays to communicate their viewpoint on pretty much any topic you can think of!

The Essay in Academics

Not only are students required to read a variety of essays during their academic education, but they will likely be required to write several different kinds of essays throughout their scholastic career. Don’t love to write? Then consider working with a ghost essay writer ! While all essays require an introduction, body paragraphs in support of the argumentative thesis statement, and a conclusion, academic essays can take several different formats in the way they approach a topic. Common essays required in high school, college, and post-graduate classes include:

Five paragraph essay

This is the most common type of a formal essay. The type of paper that students are usually exposed to when they first hear about the concept of the essay itself. It follows easy outline structure – an opening introduction paragraph; three body paragraphs to expand the thesis; and conclusion to sum it up.

Argumentative essay

These essays are commonly assigned to explore a controversial issue. The goal is to identify the major positions on either side and work to support the side the writer agrees with while refuting the opposing side’s potential arguments.

Compare and Contrast essay

This essay compares two items, such as two poems, and works to identify similarities and differences, discussing the strength and weaknesses of each. This essay can focus on more than just two items, however. The point of this essay is to reveal new connections the reader may not have considered previously.

Definition essay

This essay has a sole purpose – defining a term or a concept in as much detail as possible. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, not quite. The most important part of the process is picking up the word. Before zooming it up under the microscope, make sure to choose something roomy so you can define it under multiple angles. The definition essay outline will reflect those angles and scopes.

Descriptive essay

Perhaps the most fun to write, this essay focuses on describing its subject using all five of the senses. The writer aims to fully describe the topic; for example, a descriptive essay could aim to describe the ocean to someone who’s never seen it or the job of a teacher. Descriptive essays rely heavily on detail and the paragraphs can be organized by sense.

Illustration essay

The purpose of this essay is to describe an idea, occasion or a concept with the help of clear and vocal examples. “Illustration” itself is handled in the body paragraphs section. Each of the statements, presented in the essay needs to be supported with several examples. Illustration essay helps the author to connect with his audience by breaking the barriers with real-life examples – clear and indisputable.

Informative Essay

Being one the basic essay types, the informative essay is as easy as it sounds from a technical standpoint. High school is where students usually encounter with informative essay first time. The purpose of this paper is to describe an idea, concept or any other abstract subject with the help of proper research and a generous amount of storytelling.

Narrative essay

This type of essay focuses on describing a certain event or experience, most often chronologically. It could be a historic event or an ordinary day or month in a regular person’s life. Narrative essay proclaims a free approach to writing it, therefore it does not always require conventional attributes, like the outline. The narrative itself typically unfolds through a personal lens, and is thus considered to be a subjective form of writing.

Persuasive essay

The purpose of the persuasive essay is to provide the audience with a 360-view on the concept idea or certain topic – to persuade the reader to adopt a certain viewpoint. The viewpoints can range widely from why visiting the dentist is important to why dogs make the best pets to why blue is the best color. Strong, persuasive language is a defining characteristic of this essay type.

The Essay in Art

Several other artistic mediums have adopted the essay as a means of communicating with their audience. In the visual arts, such as painting or sculpting, the rough sketches of the final product are sometimes deemed essays. Likewise, directors may opt to create a film essay which is similar to a documentary in that it offers a personal reflection on a relevant issue. Finally, photographers often create photographic essays in which they use a series of photographs to tell a story, similar to a narrative or a descriptive essay.

Drawing the line – question answered

“What is an Essay?” is quite a polarizing question. On one hand, it can easily be answered in a couple of words. On the other, it is surely the most profound and self-established type of content there ever was. Going back through the history of the last five-six centuries helps us understand where did it come from and how it is being applied ever since.

If you must write an essay, follow these five important steps to works towards earning the “A” you want:

Understand and review the kind of essay you must write
Brainstorm your argument
Find research from reliable sources to support your perspective
Cite all sources parenthetically within the paper and on the Works Cited page
Follow all grammatical rules

Generally speaking, when you must write any type of essay, start sooner rather than later! Don’t procrastinate – give yourself time to develop your perspective and work on crafting a unique and original approach to the topic. Remember: it’s always a good idea to have another set of eyes (or three) look over your essay before handing in the final draft to your teacher or professor. Don’t trust your fellow classmates? Consider hiring an editor or a ghostwriter to help out!

If you are still unsure on whether you can cope with your task – you are in the right place to get help. HandMadeWriting is the perfect answer to the question “Who can write my essay?”

A life lesson in Romeo and Juliet taught by death

Due to human nature, we draw conclusions only when life gives us a lesson since the experience of others is not so effective and powerful. Therefore, when analyzing and sorting out common problems we face, we may trace a parallel with well-known book characters or real historical figures. Moreover, we often compare our situations with […]

Ethical Research Paper Topics

Writing a research paper on ethics is not an easy task, especially if you do not possess excellent writing skills and do not like to contemplate controversial questions. But an ethics course is obligatory in all higher education institutions, and students have to look for a way out and be creative. When you find an […]

Art Research Paper Topics

Students obtaining degrees in fine art and art & design programs most commonly need to write a paper on art topics. However, this subject is becoming more popular in educational institutions for expanding students’ horizons. Thus, both groups of receivers of education: those who are into arts and those who only get acquainted with art […]

Check the Example of a Definition Essay and Write Better

Before you read more useful information, we recommend that you first read a small definition essay example: What is courage?

“Constantly, everyone experiences fear, in one area or another, at one time or another—sensation of slight jitters to a phobia that stops the heart. Do not forget that to be brave, real fears are required. Otherwise, there is no way. Courage only works when paired with anxiety.

Courage is what you have in your head, so to speak, the way of thinking that a person can adopt when faced with some kind of danger. Your problem can be dangerous, like fighting or seconds before an accident. It is common for every person to perceive difficult, even the most harmless situation, for example, a dialogue with someone who sympathizes with him. Courage is about facing fear and accepting it instead of running away.

Examples of courage can always be found in any community. Police or fire department, look no further. These guys already have all the qualities that can be called courage. The guys in these services save the lives of others every day, even at their own cost. On the other hand, students show courage when they find the strength to confront a bully or speak in front of an entire audience. Every time you work through fears, it’s only preparation for heroism.

The concept of “Fearlessness” may be but is not a true synonym for the word courage. Fearlessness is often stupidity and leads to accidents. Heroes who risk themselves to help others show their courage. The absolute synonym for bravery can be courage. Despite the threat, doing the right thing requires great strength of character and resilience, which can also be synonymous with bravery.

This is a lie if someone speaks of courage while saying he is not afraid of anything. Courage cannot be achieved without experiencing fear firsthand. No matter what the situation, difficult or not, dangerous or safe, courage gives a person the opportunity to work in parallel with his anxiety and not run away from it. When you see a real hero, understand that he is more scared than you, but that gives him the strength to be braver.”

Table of Contents

Essay Definition: What Is It, and Why Is It Needed?

When you get to the point where you need to choose a topic, it’s essential to find something interesting. The case should grab the reader’s attention. If you manage to make the issue memorable and the reader does not think about daily thoughts about your topic, you will succeed. We have made several groups in specific categories. You can choose any of them. Additionally, seeking inspiration from descriptive essay examples can offer valuable insights into selecting a captivating topic.

Definition of love

One standard definition of an essay is love. Confession of feelings, the usual conversation about love, the definition of terminal love, and challenging tasks. Despite the extreme complexity of the issue, the theme of love is trendy. That is why we advise you to look at the topics we offer.

From love to hate, one step.
Is it possible to determine the universal meaning of love?
Love or other emotions. What is stronger?
Sisterly love.
Compare love and passion.

Definition of happiness

Every person wants and feels happy. No matter at what moment, it is a powerful emotion that gives meaning to life. Such a topic for an essay with a definition is a good choice since everyone is familiar with this term.

Knowledge about happiness using personal experience.
Money does not create happiness.
What does it take to find happiness?
What is the opposite term for happiness?

Definition of freedom

Freedom is what everyone yearns for. This term has a lot of guises, for example, freedom of speech, choice, and free will. By choosing this topic, you will have the opportunity to argue with yourself. You will be able to discuss how important freedom is and whether it is needed in a particular society. Every person seeks release and knows what he longs for when he gets it, so this topic is also a good one to choose from.

Freedom for the poor or slavery in comfort?
Freedom for prisoners.
How do we achieve independence while in slavery?
Why shouldn’t everyone be free?
What did the Civil War for freedom give?

Extended Essay Definitions

Where a broad definition is used, you need to use only words with a general meaning to discuss. Do not use words with one interpretation. This topic makes it possible to argue immediately with many fantasies and ideas.

What do parents do to keep the family healthy?
Traits that define a person’s courage;
Evidence that the police do not respect the rights of citizens;
Factors that define an atheist;

Definition of Information Technology

In our time, technology does not stand still, and new opportunities and programs appear every day. We will provide some topics that will be useful for those who like to discuss innovation. Also, such issues will interest those who discuss the future.

What language will the programs be in today?
What are the World Wide Web and its further development;
How do operating systems change?
How does online learning affect knowledge and health?
Artificial intelligence and consequences of global importance;
Future systems for home use;

We have shown only a small number of popular definition essay topics with definitions and questions that can often come up in tests or assignments at the university. Your task is only to decide on the subject that suits you the most.

What Is the Definition of an Essay

A definition essay is a work designed to write the formal meaning of a single word. Remember that this is precisely the same essay, which means you must choose a complex term that can be described in a few words.

This task was created to describe specifically complex terms with a significant background and a reasonably historical origin. The word “Friendship” is a perfect example of a tour to take. Such a concept is quite difficult to describe in a nutshell. So we have a considerable margin and opportunity to write a whole definition essay about this word with a definition that more accurately gives an idea of it.

How to Write a Definition Essay

Here is a brief instruction on how to write an essay with a definition:

Find the correct term.

Avoid words that have a specific, fixed meaning when choosing a topic. Such comments will take up a lot of space for you to write. If your word has an abstract meaning, you have a considerable supply that may never run out. This step essentially involves defining key terms that will be central to your essay’s exploration.

Multidimensional word.

This is a word that will mean different things to different people. For example, the word “Friendship” evokes other emotions and thoughts in everyone. A definition essay can be very subjective because it allows the writer to describe their interpretation of the word. But, avoid the meaning of the word that everyone else thinks. This can only confirm the readers’ knowledge and will not give new definitions and arguments.

Choose familiar words.

If you start writing a definition essay about a word you saw for the first time, you will fail in 90 percent of cases. This is extremely difficult. It is best to have a personal experience with this word so that you understand the meaning and have knowledge of this term. Choose only the words you are familiar with. This will allow you to delve into the issue and show the reader that you know the topic and can be trusted as an author.

Add backstory.

Be sure to tell the reader the background and etymology of your term, which will play a massive role in the use of the word at present. The assignment should be studied, no matter where, whether in dictionaries or online libraries.

H2: How to Write a Definition in an Essay

There are many types of essays , and we will talk about those most often used in reports. If you find a topic with an exciting backstory and can’t figure it out? Read what you can do with it. A few key type definitions:

Analysis: Define each item separately. The easiest way is to break it into parts.
Classify: To which class does the problem fit best?
Compare: Very unusual things you come across can be determined by comparing their appearance with the appearance of ordinary things.
Detail: Key points and features that describe the overall idea of the article;
Negative: Describe what the item is not exactly. This will narrow the circle of understanding what it is.
Reasons: History of your idea, what is the origin, and is there any information?
Result: Consequence of using the item.

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[ noun es -ey es -ey , e- sey verb e- sey ]

a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.

a picture essay.

an effort to perform or accomplish something; attempt.
Philately. a design for a proposed stamp differing in any way from the design of the stamp as issued.
Obsolete. a tentative effort; trial; assay.

verb (used with object)

to try; attempt.
to put to the test; make trial of.
a short literary composition dealing with a subject analytically or speculatively
an attempt or endeavour; effort
a test or trial
to attempt or endeavour; try
to test or try out
A short piece of writing on one subject, usually presenting the author's own views. Michel de Montaigne , Francis Bacon (see also Bacon ), and Ralph Waldo Emerson are celebrated for their essays.

Other Words From

es·sayer noun
prees·say verb (used without object)
unes·sayed adjective
well-es·sayed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of essay 1

Example Sentences

As several of my colleagues commented, the result is good enough that it could pass for an essay written by a first-year undergraduate, and even get a pretty decent grade.

GPT-3 also raises concerns about the future of essay writing in the education system.

This little essay helps focus on self-knowledge in what you’re best at, and how you should prioritize your time.

As Steven Feldstein argues in the opening essay, technonationalism plays a part in the strengthening of other autocracies too.

He’s written a collection of essays on civil engineering life titled Bridginess, and to this day he and Lauren go on “bridge dates,” where they enjoy a meal and admire the view of a nearby span.

I think a certain kind of compelling essay has a piece of that.

The current attack on the Jews,” he wrote in a 1937 essay, “targets not just this people of 15 million but mankind as such.

The impulse to interpret seems to me what makes personal essay writing compelling.

To be honest, I think a lot of good essay writing comes out of that.

Someone recently sent me an old Joan Didion essay on self-respect that appeared in Vogue.

There is more of the uplifted forefinger and the reiterated point than I should have allowed myself in an essay.

Consequently he was able to turn in a clear essay upon the subject, which, upon examination, the king found to be free from error.

It is no part of the present essay to attempt to detail the particulars of a code of social legislation.

But angels and ministers of grace defend us from ministers of religion who essay art criticism!

It is fit that the imagination, which is free to go through all things, should essay such excursions.

Related Words

dissertation

Development interdependence: Locally driven, globally informed

Subscribe to the sustainable development bulletin, essay by: george ingram george ingram senior fellow - global economy and development , center for sustainable development viewpoints by: sarah rose , sarah rose senior advisor for localization - usaid rachel leeds , rl rachel leeds strategy analyst - usaid tariq ahmad , ta tariq ahmad senior policy advisor - millennium challenge corporation martha bowen , mb martha bowen deputy vice president for policy and evaluation - millennium challenge corporation meghan armistead , ma meghan armistead senior research and policy advisor - catholic relief services marin belhoussein , mb marin belhoussein policy lead, aid and development finance - oxfam gretchen king , gk gretchen king former localization advisor - oxfam larry cooley , larry cooley nonresident senior fellow - global economy and development , center for universal education john coonrod , jc john coonrod founder and chair - movement for community led development gunjan veda , gv gunjan veda global secretary and executive director (u.s.) - movement for community led development justin fugle , justin fugle head of policy - plan international claudia gonzalez , cg claudia gonzalez executive director - ensena por paraguay anna molero , am anna molero chief government officer - tech for all brianna guidorzi , bg brianna guidorzi policy analyst - near karl hofmann , kh karl hofmann president and ceo - population services international dylan matthews , dm dylan matthews ceo - peace direct vahe mirikian , vm vahe mirikian managing director - washington dc peace direct anthony f. pipa , anthony f. pipa senior fellow - global economy and development , center for sustainable development susan reichle , susan reichle ceo and president - international youth foundation ritu sharma , rs ritu sharma co-founder and president - women thrive worldwide cynthia smith , cs cynthia smith director of global initiatives - humentum william von schrader , and wvs william von schrader senior director, localization - save the children jenny russell jr jenny russell senior director of development policy and advocacy - save the children.

September 9, 2024

92 min read

This compendium of essays expands on the conversation from a roundtable hosted by the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution on April 5, 2024. The event’s purpose was to generate a discussion on the role of international expertise and international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) in a localization frame, a topic mostly absent in considerations of locally led development.

An initial essay by Brookings scholar George Ingram, serving as background for the roundtable, poses three framing questions:

Is there a role for international expertise and entities in the localization frame, and if so, what is that role?
Can USAID, other donors, and intermediary organizations create structures and operating dynamics that provide global experience and expertise in ways that respect and support local actors being in control of priority setting, design, and execution?
In what ways can USAID modify its procurement processes to facilitate participation of local and national Southern organizations?

Because no one observer can represent the diversity of views on locally led development, and in order to broaden the conversation and audience beyond those at the April session, participants in the roundtable were invited to write follow-on commentaries on the topic.

This compendium can be read in its entirety or selectively, depending on the reader’s interest. Readers can access specific viewpoints by clicking on the authors’ names in the sidebar navigation menu at any time.

Opening essay

The first essay in this compendium is the essay by Ingram, updated to benefit from the roundtable discussion and subsequent feedback. It includes an addendum highlighting key ideas put forth during the roundtable discussion.

Concept of locally led development

The objective of locally led development is for national actors, including government, institutions, and citizens, to drive their own development. An outstanding issue in the path to localization is determining the appropriate role of external actors as they transition from a leading to a subsidiary role in development.

The donor community has been on a two-decade trek to sort out the meaning and execution of local ownership—the concept that development is most effective and sustainable when it is driven by local stakeholders based on local priorities, local design, local execution, local monitoring, and local evaluation. The 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness was seminal in emphasizing the role of local ownership, interpreted principally as the national government. Intergovernmental debates evolved through the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action and the 2011 Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, which stressed, among other stakeholders, the role of local governments and civil society organizations.

Much of the recent discussion on aid effectiveness has focused principally on local ownership. But the original Paris Declaration sets forth five interdependent principles that contribute to aid effectiveness, of which ownership, possibly the most essential, is but one—alongside alignment, harmonization, managing for results, and accountability. These principles remain a helpful guidepost, even as they continue to be updated. 1

The concept of locally led development is based on the shortcomings of traditional top – down approaches and the recognition that the agency of local stakeholders , a long with local management of resources , are what are most relevant . T he current laser targeting o n local ownership is an appropriate response to three-quarters of a century of development driven too often by donor priorities and perspectives and accountability to their own constituents , often at the expense of local priorities and perspectives. The shift is probably necessary to steer the supertanker -like operations of donors to a more locally driven dynamic .

The endgame

However, localization should not be seen as the destination. Nor is it appropriate for all circumstances, and it can be taken too far. While being guided by local voices and priorities is always essential, every country in the Global South is on a different development trajectory. For example:

Developing countries have a mix of capabilities to advance their own development and needs for external support.
Many countries are mired in conflicts, humanitarian crises, and fragility that impair locally led development.
Too many countries have governance that is predatory, non-inclusive, or non-responsive to the needs and priorities of citizens.

In addition, in these contexts and others, international knowledge, experience, capabilities, and access can contribute to the diffusion of innovation and successful participation in a global political and economic order that positively affects development. And there are universal values—human rights, inclusion, gender equity, democracy—that the U.S. and other donors seek to advance and will not abandon.

It is important to acknowledge that, despite localization being the focus in many dialogues on development, it is one of multiple steps along the development journey. Think of localization in terms of the related concept that self-reliance is not the economic endgame either. As far back as the 18th century, Adam Smith explained that trade and specialization surpass economic self-reliance in creating economic efficiency and wealth for the overall benefit of society.

The endgame is inclusive economic, social, and political development that is owned by national and local stakeholders and built on the best of local and global knowledge and capabilities, best characterized as locally driven, globally informed.

USAID’s targets

Take the case of USAID. Building on the path initiated by her predecessors, Administrator Samantha Power has made USAID a leading advocate for localization. Setting a hard target of 25% of “eligible” U.S. foreign aid being programmed directly to local organizations by 2025 is an appropriate goal to move processes toward the more ambitious 2030 target of 50% of all United States government aid being locally designed and implemented, an acknowledged innovation on how to measure locally led development.

But fixed targets lead to hard questions:

What is the appropriate definition of what organization/program qualifies as “local”?
What foreign aid falls under the rubric of “eligible”?
What are the pitfalls of promoting “local development autarchy” (e.g., executing development programs without the benefit of global expertise and experience), and how can they be avoided?
What is the appropriate role of traditional international expertise and development implementers (INGOs, universities, companies)?

In an interconnected world, it is difficult to define what is local and know how strict a definition is appropriate.

Definition of local

USAID (a) has a definition of “local entity” that is subject to interpretation by each of its operating units (country missions and headquarter bureaus and offices), and (b) identifies categories of assistance “eligible” for direct funding to local entities on a relatively narrow base of all U.S. development and humanitarian assistance. Publish What You Fund ( PWYF) bases its calculation on (a) a stricter definition of local (local organizations with no connection to international actors) and (b) a wider band of USAID budgetary accounts. Compared to USAID’s calculation that in FY 2022 10.2% and in FY 2023 9.6% of its funding is going to local organizations, a sampling of country programs by PWYF and Oxfam using their more rigorous definition of local and a broader scope of eligible fundings, found about half that level going directly to local entities.

The advantage of a strict, clear definition is it makes it easier to assess progress and accountability. The disadvantage is that it can miss important nuances. USAID’s practice of allowing each of its many operating units to determine what counts as local allows for nuance but permits inconsistent determination of what is local.

The conundrum of a definition revolves around who is in control and how to determine that. This can be seen in a few examples (both real and conceptual) of existing organizational and program structures that may or may not be determined as local:

Local and national government.
A U.S. nonprofit running a USAID-funded program 100% staffed by local citizens whose function is to respond to technical assistance requests from a government ministry.
A U.S. nonprofit, most of whose senior staff (VP level) are non-U.S. citizens resident in developing countries and whose function is to provide finance and other support to indigenous organizations, and with a third of the board from the Global South.
A regionally based NGO governed from and works only in developing countries—may be characterized as a “Southern-led INGO”.
An international nonprofit that is a federation of independent, sovereign national organizations.
A global consulting firm that is a network of independent national entities governed by the collection of Northern and Southern partners, sometimes with Southern partners in the majority.

These examples are mostly locally or regionally managed with a level of global input.

Role of international expertise

In the ongoing debate among USAID and its implementing partners, and within the broader development community, both in the U.S. and globally, as to the appropriate role of those international implementing entities, it is useful to identify what the role of international actors might be in supporting local actors in a localization frame. What are the functions of international expertise and implementers that are relevant to a local/global dynamic, and how can they perform a supportive rather than a controlling role? Possibilities include:

Share knowledge and experience from other countries and communities.
Provide access to global networks.
Serve as a mediator between local stakeholders.
Provide political coverage or protection for local stakeholders.
Strengthen capacity.
Convene partners and stakeholders, local and global.
Help access funding.
Provide administrative functions required by donors (i.e., back-office functions such as financial accountability, risk management, and reporting and compliance functions).

This mental walk-through of why and how international expertise and entities can contribute to locally led development occurs in a frame of broader questions that are almost philosophical in nature. The answers to these will be driven by context, values, and worldview. But there are higher-order questions that must be addressed first:

What does success in localization/locally-led development look like—sustainability, cost effectiveness, efficiency, best use of donor resources?
What do we mean by “local”—national government, local communities, women’s groups, NGOs, companies, individuals?
Different identification of who or what is “local” may depend on the circumstances and objectives.
Who determines who or what is “local”?

3 framing questions

The central issue of this essay is to consider what role international actors should play in the pursuit of successful development localization. The topic has received inadequate attention and would benefit from explicit discussion among local stakeholders, donors, and implementers. In particular, three specific issues need to be addressed:

Is there a role for international expertise and entities in the localization frame, and if so, what is that role?
Can USAID, other donors, and intermediary organizations create structures and operating dynamics that provide global experience and expertise in ways that respect and support local actors being in control of priority setting, design, and execution?
In what ways can USAID modify its procurement processes to facilitate the participation of local and national Southern organizations? 2

April 5 Roundtable Discussion—responses to the three framing questions.

Below is a summary of the ideas put forth during the roundtable in response to the three framing questions at the end of the essay. The conversation was robust and focused principally on the three framing questions. The views expressed were as diverse as the participants, with an overall perspective that there is a role for international actors in a localization frame, that power and control have yet to be effectively handed over, and lots of ideas but no consensus on the most effective way to accomplish that.

Question: Is there a role for international expertise and entities in the localization frame, and if so, what is their role?

Fund Raiser: Mobilize resources for local organizations.
Convenor: Provide a venue for dialogue between local organizations, INGOs, and funders.
Networker: Connect local organizations with INGOs.
Knowledge broker/Interpreter: Translate and interpret donor requests and requirements to local organizations.
Trainer/Coach: Strengthen knowledge and capabilities in technical areas of development.
Capacity builder: Strengthen capacity in areas of human resources, leadership, and responsiveness to local needs and priorities.
Intermediary: Serve as the go-between for local organizations and international funders, specifically for local organizations not capable or desirous of direct relationships with international donors.
Advocate: Represent Southern voices in international networks and dialogues.
Proposal writer: Assist with proposals to international donors.
Defender: Serve as a shield for local organizations from local political pressures.
Mediator: Mediate among local organizations and with international entities.
Administrative supporter: Provide back-office support to meet donor administrative requirements.

Question: Can USAID, other donors, and intermediary organizations create structures and operating dynamics that provide global experience and expertise in ways that respect and support local actors being in control of priority-setting, design, and execution?

Key recommendations included for USAID to:

Provide funding to cover the full overhead expenses of local organizations.
Translate proposals into multiple languages.
Hold convenings in the South and in places that do not require a visa.
Create standards and norms to manage risk and minimize inherent risks to local organizations.
Avoid implementing organizations co-opting the localization agenda (e.g., nationalization of country offices, decentralization of power from headquarters).
Extend funding through locally trusted intermediaries (like the United Way).

Question: In what ways can USAID modify its procurement processes to facilitate participation of local and national Southern organizations?

If there was one overarching point, it was that if the funder requires funding in a certain fashion, the implementer will comply.
Make local partners the default. Require documented rationale for why international actors are operating without a local partner.
Provide more transition awards.
Include funding for capacity strengthening of local organizations.
Provide standalone and integrated capacity-strengthening awards.
Make local organizations the prime applicant and the international implementer responsible for financial due diligence.
Move more funding through grants, thereby reducing the administrative/reporting requirements.
Include handing over the power of projects to local organizations as a required deliverable.
Measure against local capacity strengthening best practice indicators.
Separate the sub-contractor and prime relationship at the point of the award.
Change the program cycle to include the whole systems strategy development with international and local stakeholders participating in the development of the strategy. Then fund organizations, people, and partnerships rather than projects.
Require exit strategies for development and humanitarian assistance.
Provide funding for INGOs to serve as the convener of local organizations for project co-development.
Restrict solicitations only to local actors, excluding ones that are deemed affiliates.
Reduce the administrative paperwork, including simplifying periodic reporting.
Hold the local grantee against its own objectives, not the donor’s package of indicators.
Build in accountability to local stakeholders.

The following essays were authored by participants who accepted the invitation to present their own perspectives and experiences. The authors include U.S. government officials, representatives of U.S. and Southern civil society organizations, and individuals with experience in development.

Particularly noteworthy are the first two essays by senior staff of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which lay out how those agencies see the role of international entities in locally led development.

Additionally, the essays by development practitioners, especially by Southern voices—which must be central to this topic—provide important perspectives from their experience in implementing localization.

The role of international partners in advancing locally led development

USAID’s localization efforts build upon many years of past efforts and lessons learned around promoting local ownership. Many of these lessons inform how the agency understands the role of international partners—including INGOs, large and small development contractors, faith-based organizations, and United Nations agencies—in advancing locally led development.

One fundamental lesson relates to the rationale for locally led development. For years, the international community has considered local leadership and ownership over goals and processes to be critical for effective programming and sustained results. While there is still broad consensus on this point, the motivation for locally led development has expanded to include a focus on equity, with greater inclusion of the people and communities affected by the aid system. Shifting power requires rethinking everyone’s roles and practices, including those of international partners.

A second, related lesson pertains to how USAID frames its localization goals. In the past, the agency has emphasized direct local awards as the main way to advance localization and track its progress. Now, with more emphasis on shifting power, USAID is also examining how it creates opportunities for local actors to exercise influence over development programming. Control of resources is an important form of power, but local actors can also exercise power in other ways: setting the agenda; developing solutions; and bringing their capacities, leadership, and resources to bear to make those solutions a reality. International partners have an important role to play in creating opportunities for these types of local leadership and in supporting the broader development and humanitarian assistance community in being responsive to those locally identified priorities and solutions.

Drawing upon these lessons, USAID has reaffirmed its commitment to shifting funding and decisionmaking power to the people, organizations, and institutions that are driving change in their own countries and communities. Since 2021 , USAID has been working toward two agency-wide localization targets:

To channel a quarter of USAID funding directly to local partners.
To ensure that, for the majority of USAID programs, local actors are in the lead for project design, implementation, and results measurement.

While USAID’s direct local funding target often gets more attention, the local leadership target is equally important. And it is to this goal that international partners can make valuable contributions.

The (many) opportunities for international partners to advance locally led development

International partners can help shape international systems, including the aid system, to be more inclusive of local actors. They can support local actors’ integration into international networks and markets and facilitate coordination and collaboration between donors, INGOs, and local actors. They can contribute evidence on the impact of locally led approaches and help advocate and mobilize resources for locally led development.

In their work with local actors, international partners can collaborate, learn, and adapt with local stakeholders throughout program implementation, for example through accountability and feedback mechanisms . They can bring local actors into co-creation processes during design and implementation.

International partners can fund subawards to local organizations in ways that elevate local leadership . They can view their relationships with subawardees not just instrumentally, as a way to deliver specific elements of a program, but as an equitable partnership that aims to strengthen the broader local system. They can strengthen local subawardees’ organizational health by budgeting to support their full cost recovery (for instance, by implementing the revised federal regulations , effective October 1, that permit a 15% indirect cost recovery rate for subawardees). International partners can also serve as subawardees in support of directly funded local partners.

International partners can also engage in valuable capacity strengthening , mentoring, and coaching of local organizations, building on their existing strengths and supporting them to achieve their goals.

The international partner community is having important conversations about its role in advancing localization. INGO leaders are emphasizing locally led development and identifying the changes their organizations can make to advance these goals. Some INGO boards are paying increased attention to their organizations’ localization efforts, alongside other elements of organizational health. Movements like the RINGO Project (Re-Imagining the INGO and the Role of Global Civil Society) and the Pledge for Change are providing spaces for international organizations to think and talk with Global South-based organizations about what it means to form more equitable partnerships with local actors.

USAID’s enabling role

USAID also has a role to play in encouraging and shaping the nature of relationships between international partners and local actors. The Agency recently revised its operational policy on the program cycle to set expectations for staff to integrate local knowledge and local leadership across strategic planning; program design; implementation; and monitoring, evaluation, and learning processes. To guide efforts to integrate local leadership into its programs, USAID has developed tools and resources, many of which are relevant to international partners. Some are broadly applicable, like the locally led development spectrum and checklist tool . Some are sector-specific. For example, the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) produced a series of papers outlining the shifts that better elevate local leadership and support more effective rule of law , civil society , and governance programs. And the Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security (REFS) published new “ Localization Activity Design Guidance ” for activities related to Feed the Future initiative.

USAID is starting to be more intentional about understanding the ways its programs create space for local actors to exercise leadership. In 2023, the agency developed and piloted a new “ locally led programs indicator ” that tracks the extent to which programs utilize, over the lifespan of an award, a range of “good practices” that advance locally led development, including listening tours; co-creation; local subawards; participatory monitoring, evaluation, and learning processes. A new USAID report, “ Committed to Change: Localization Progress Report FY 2023 ” , discusses the results of the pilot, as well as some adjustments the agency is planning to make to the indicator. Forthcoming changes will streamline and clarify what the metric seeks to measure and reflect greater ambition for what it means for a program to demonstrate commitment to local leadership.

A role for everyone, grounded in values

The development and humanitarian ecosystems are made up of a wide range of actors. The central objective should be to leverage and build upon the unique expertise, resources, knowledge, skills, and networks of all actors in a manner that creates or supports the conditions for local actors to exercise their leadership. Those conditions are predicated on relationships based on transparency, listening, trust, mutuality, and respect. Attention to these values, by donors and international partners alike, can help build a more effective, inclusive, and equitable aid system.

Lessons from MCC: Implementing local ownership

In bilateral development partnerships, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) adopts a relatively unique operational model. MCC programs work with international contractors but under the authority and management of local stakeholders, which include representatives from the partner government, civil society, and the private sector. The model is an example of the question posed by George Ingram in the opening essay—can donors “create structures and operating dynamics that provide global experience and expertise in ways that respect and support local actors being in control of the priority setting, design, and execution”.

MCC’s operationalization of country ownership has three tangible dimensions: countries determine the investments, implement the programs, and are held accountable by their domestic stakeholders.

Countries control the prioritization process: Once eligible for MCC compact or threshold assistance, partner countries choose the sectors where MCC invests, based on an economic analysis of the countries’ key constraints to economic growth and informed by meaningful engagement with citizens, civil society, the private sector, and other donors. MCC and partner countries then work together to design investments that meet country priorities, are cost-effective, and have strong potential to reduce poverty through economic growth. MCC does not set out to focus its investments in any specific sectors.

Countries implement their own programs: MCC has small in-country missions in program countries (typically only two U.S. direct hires). MCC requires partner country governments to establish accountable entities to lead program implementation. These entities, typically established by law or other formal instruments and known as Millennium Challenge Accounts (MCAs), are led, managed, and staffed by country nationals and work directly with existing government ministries and other domestic stakeholders.
Countries are accountable to domestic stakeholders for results: Each MCA reports to its own board of directors (or similar governing entities), including ministerial officials and representatives of the local civil society and private sector. Thus, MCA boards are accountable to national governments and their citizens for the implementation of MCC-funded programs, transparent decisionmaking, and achieving results.

Notwithstanding how country ownership is operationalized in MCC’s model, as described above, the reality is that there are only a few entities, usually based in the Global North, that can build infrastructure at the scale required by MCC-financed programs or address specific due diligence requirements.

The uniqueness of MCC is characterized in two specific ways . First, the programs being implemented by international entities were codesigned with government counterparts. Second and more important, the local accountable entity, the MCA, selects the implementing contractor and oversees its work—i.e., the MCA is the client. The MCA performs procurement and contract management functions for implementing their programs—meaning they are at the helm of decisionmaking and monitoring the performance of the international (or local) entities they have selected to implement planned activities. This separates the MCC model from other donors’ models through a commitment to provide more authority and control (and thus, more power) to country counterparts. To illustrate: When MCC says it is providing a 345-million-dollar grant through a compact with Malawi, as we did in 2011, Malawians managed 100% of that money through their locally accountable entity.

There are some important nuances related to the degree to which the MCA can localize or fully manage the procurement process. First, MCC’s “ Program Procurement and Grant Guidelines ” ensure that MCA-conducted procurements are done through international competitive bidding. There is no American preference and no local preference. Second, once the required procurements have been identified and a procurement plan approved by the MCA board, they must submit key documents to MCC for “no objection” before proceeding with procurement. In other words, while the MCA performs the work, there is an accountability structure in place that is responsive to MCC’s requirements and standards.

Recently, MCC has undertaken an exercise called Procurement@20 aimed at shifting an even greater degree of ownership and responsibility for the procurement process to MCA partners. These reforms reduce the number of MCC touchpoints during the procurement process and optimize the role of the MCA Board of Directors in procurement oversight. On average, internal assessments suggest that the Procurement@20 reforms will reduce procurement timelines by 30%. These changes grant MCAs more authority and more accountability for ensuring quality procurements while also saving time.

Furthermore, MCC is undertaking an exercise to explore ways to deepen its commitment and implementation of country ownership and locally led development. This effort aims to pursue and reinforce principles at the heart of locally led development: more local ownership over priorities, implementation, and resources. The goal is to support development leaders to pursue development in the ways local partners see fit.

This review includes conversations across the MCC and within civil society. Most importantly, this review includes discussions with our MCA colleagues who know what it will take for MCC to support their ability to deliver MCC programs in close consultations with their local stakeholders.

We ask external audiences to pay attention to MCC efforts and keep the organization accountable to its commitment to country ownership and locally led development.

At the end of the day, donors such as the MCC don’t “do development.” Instead, the governments, their people, companies, and civil society are at the helm of solving their development challenges. MCC hopes to partner in a manner that supports its leadership. And ultimately, we hope the agency’s model, and what has been learned from 20 years of experience can be a successful approach from which other donors can learn.

An aid system of subsidiarity and solidarity: Centering local institutions, investing in quality partnerships

The development and humanitarian needs around the world in 2024 are daunting, and the aid system will require robust and effective responses from all stakeholders to meet global challenges. As an organization rooted in Catholic Social Teaching, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) centers its work on the ideas of subsidiarity and solidarity. Subsidiarity requires acknowledging that those closest to a challenge are often best positioned to identify a response and that all people have the right to be the authors of their own future. As such, one must look to local development and humanitarian institutions as expert voices on community and national needs and essential leaders for effective solutions. Solidarity calls on everyone to stand together with sisters and brothers around the world to support these solutions and to work together toward a world free of poverty and injustice, and in a way that respects the dignity of all people.

The drive for a more locally led future: Progress, and much left to do

These organizational values, as well as experience working in partnership with thousands of local organizations, lead to ardent support for the movement for more locally led development. It has, therefore, been heartening to see growing support for localization efforts in recent years from donor agencies, Congress, peer agencies, and other stakeholders. As George Ingram’s opening essay notes, the need for local leadership in development and humanitarian efforts is now widely recognized.

However, while it is important to recognize the increased attention localization has received and to celebrate policy progress (such as USAID’s Local Capacity Strengthening Policy , and recent changes in the “ Assistance and Acquisition Policy ”), it is equally important to be clear-eyed about where progress has stalled. Reflections on the roles of local and international actors in the aid system must be rooted in current reality. They must take care not to fall victim to outdated tropes or misperceptions.

Currently, nearly all donor resources and decision-making power remain in the hands of international actors. Despite ambitious targets, international entities still receive over 90% of USAID funding (see Publish What You Fund’s research , which indicates it is closer 94.3%). On the humanitarian side, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance has reported that 99% of its funding goes to international actors. Localization efforts are, of course, about more than just funding. But leadership opportunities and significant decision-making roles remain elusive for local actors as well. As the Movement for Community-led Development notes in a recent open letter , there is “longstanding frustration by many local leaders [about] being effectively excluded from international conferences and meetings about locally-led development”, and this frustration is mirrored at policy tables, coordination mechanisms and policy dialogues. Given this reality, any argument that raises concerns about localization going too far should be approached with great wariness.

Similarly, despite some assertions to the contrary, in reality, there should be no lack of clarity around localization’s objectives nor confusion that localization of aid is the end goal. Poverty alleviation, effective and just development, and effective humanitarian assistance are the goal. The political question at hand is merely if the aid system is ready to realize a shift in power and move beyond assuming that international organizations are the only stakeholders ready and able to lead any part of the process.

Aid stakeholders’ changing roles

As the aid world has increasingly recognized these twin needs for both local leadership and global partnerships and solidarity, the debate has not been about whether global actors have a role to play but rather how each stakeholder can most effectively have the greatest development impact. Much has been written in recent years about the future roles, and potential impact INGOs can have in a changing aid system, including the Grand Bargain’s caucus on the role of intermediaries , Peace Direct’s “Nine roles intermediaries can play in international cooperation”, George E. Mitchell, Hans Peter Schmitz, and Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken’s “ Between power and irrelevance: The future of transnational NGOs ”, and the body of work coming out of the RINGO project . Throughout all of them, there is a clear consensus emerging that stresses the need for INGO adaptability and increasing their capacity to take greater intermediary roles such as technical assistance provider, process facilitator, advocate, solidarity partner, network supporter, etc.

Many INGOs have seen the powerful impact taking on these kinds of roles can have for local partners and communities, and for development outcomes. The biggest challenge for INGOs to take on these roles more robustly is the current INGO operating model and the lack of available resources to transform it. As long as INGOs are funded only to directly implement projects, ceding leadership to local actors and taking on new more intermediary roles will remain challenging. The most direct way to help INGOs transform is for donors to change what they fund.

Partnerships between local and global organizations can be effective. Whether via the United States President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) transition awards that have helped local organizations transition from sub to prime implementer of large-scale health programming, or through the High-Performing Implementers (HPI) Initiative where targeted solutions packages have helped national governments transition into principal implementers of Global Fund awards, or through the EMPOWER program , where demand-driven capacity investment and support result in local partners leading increasingly complex emergency response, INGOs can play a helpful role in advancing locally led development. However, too often these roles require self-funding, as they do not line up with donor funding opportunities.

If donors like USAID want INGOs to play more effective intermediary roles, their action must go beyond policy change and look firmly to resources. Specifically, USAID should consider:

Ensure adequate funding for effective, holistic, demand-driven capacity strengthening in line with its Local Capacity Strengthening The policy’s principles are powerful and hold the potential for transformational organizational change. However, its impact is directly correlated with the resources that are available and allocated for its application. Whether through stand-alone capacity-strengthening programming, or capacity-strengthening efforts that are integrated in key sectors, USAID must ensure that its level of investment in local organizations is aligned with its locally led development vision.
Increasing, expanding, and strengthening transition awards. PEPFAR has shown that transition awards can be powerful mechanisms for local organizations to grow into new leadership opportunities and for INGOs to play an effective part in advancing that process. Their success should be built upon, and their use should be
Supporting effective, trust-based equitable partnerships. It is well-documented that effective localization processes are often rooted in quality partnerships. CRS has found that the strongest partnerships are rooted in mutuality, trust, transparency, and commitment. However, too often, the time and resources required to support these relationships do not line up with procurement and grants management processes. USAID should ensure that partnership activities (identification, co-creation, strategic collaboration) that support effective capacity-strengthening and transition processes are also adequately supported and resourced.
Prioritizing accountability, including by tightening the definition of local actors and ensuring meaningful metrics: It matters what type of institutions are able to take advantage of newly dedicated localized funding vehicles and local actors (see the NEAR network’s paper on definitions) and the international community (see IASC’s position on definitions ) have been clear on what the parameters should be. A fair playing field specifically for local institutions to access funding is critical. It is not helpful to include misleading categories like “locally established” entities in the target group for access to localization funding if or to have a definition of “local entities” that includes international subsidiaries. Doing so will undermine policy goals.

Transforming the aid system is not easy, and there is much left to do. To be effective, donors and policymakers should focus on centering local leaders and their institutions, leveraging and strengthening quality partnerships, and supporting global stakeholders to adapt, all in the service of effective, efficient, sustainable and just development.

Continue to ask local actors what the role of INGOs should be

What role would local actors like INGOs to play in the humanitarian and development system? It is a question that INGOs should continuously ask local partners, other local organizations in the operating context, and representatives of local and national institutions, including government officials. While there will be myriad responses, common themes likely will emerge based on the sector, geographic location, and capabilities of the INGO doing the asking.

For example, Oxfam Pilipinas undertook a process to explore its role in the humanitarian and development sectors in the Philippines as it became a national organization and the country affiliate of Oxfam International. As a result, within the country, Oxfam Pilipinas will now focus its own localization agenda on localizing knowledge, decision-making spaces, and money. This will mean working to see local actors more substantively involved in the creation, diffusion, and articulation of knowledge; greater representation of local actors in spaces of discourse, debate, contestation, and decision-making; and greater access by local actors to development funds. These steps will have implications for Oxfam Pilipinas’ operating model, core competencies, and leadership role within the country.

In a different country context, partners in Iraq see an important, specific role for INGOs in their influencing capacity. A 2020 Oxfam America report described a local NGO’s perspective, “There is still a huge need for international actors, both for funding and capacity building. And the pressure they bring by shedding light on things has more impact than if locals shed that light. The watchdog role is real. If the internationals pull back, the checks and balances disappear.”

These two examples illustrate why it’s so important to ask local actors what they need in their context and that a “one size fits all” approach to the changing role of INGOs will not work. Donors, including USAID, also should continue to increase their engagement with local actors to design activities and awards that are responsive to local priorities and have local organizations implementing them. Out of that process, INGOs can then plug into where those locally driven projects need their support—not their leadership.

Fortunately, USAID has been creating tools and guidance for years to ask local actors what is needed and how to address challenges in their communities. These tools and guidance can be the building blocks for further clarifying the roles of INGOs and local actors in a specific context. For example, USAID’s “Whole Systems in the Room” (WSR) is “an approach that brings together as many different stakeholders as possible, often in an intensive workshop, to strengthen relationships, to learn from each other’s perspectives, to build consensus and identify solutions to development problems they are facing, and commit to collective action” (USAID, Toolbox of Empowerment , 2022). Co-creation resources abound for use by Missions and implementing partners, as do Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting resources. Finally, the Locally-Led Development Spectrum and Locally-Led Development Indicator also provide opportunities for gaining greater clarity on new roles for INGOs seeking to change power dynamics within the aid system.

Donors also must directly fund local organizations beyond current levels. Approximately 90% of USAID funding still goes to INGOs, international for-profits, and universities (USAID, Localization Progress Report , 2023). This must change. Local actors should be leading the response to humanitarian and development challenges. Donors have incredible power to shape the aid system and create incentives by choosing who and what to fund; specifically, donors should be funding local organizations to spearhead responses and INGOs to provide specific support. Therefore, it matters how donors define and differentiate between local stakeholders and INGOs.

Unfortunately, several donor definitions of “local,” including the one USAID has adopted for its current localization agenda, do not make a clear enough distinction between local organizations and INGOs. The current definitions leave significant room for international organizations with offices around the world to receive funding as “local” entities. This issue is apparent in the underlying data from USAID’s 2022 and 2023 Localization Progress Reports, among other sources. For example, recent research by Oxfam and Publish What You Fund on USAID funding to development and humanitarian assistance organizations has demonstrated that USAID’s current localization initiative would benefit from a stricter definition of a local entity by excluding affiliates connected to INGOs.

Ultimately, there is a need for the unique contributions of local partners, INGOs, and donors given the nature and scale of today’s humanitarian and development challenges. But if the sector is serious about having the individuals and communities most affected leading in the design and implementation of responding to these challenges, INGOs and donors must systematically ask local partners what role they would like INGOs to play and then create incentives and funding structures that enable each stakeholder in the system to embrace their new role.

Examining the links between localization and scaling

There are two compelling and complementary arguments for localization—one rooted in morality, politics, and history; and the other, an instrumental case, rooted in development practice. While each of the two arguments has merit in its own right, this essay focuses on the instrumental case for localization—specifically, the link between localization and achieving sustainable outcomes at scale.

Since 2015, I have co-led the Scaling up Community of Practice (SCoP) that has 4200 members from more than 400 organizations in 70 countries. Approximately half of the SCoP’s members and organizations, and a growing portion of its leaders, hail from and reside in lower- and middle-income countries. The SCoP operates 10 working groups focusing on scaling development, climate, and humanitarian outcomes in a range of sectors and settings. Three of the most important insights from that work are: (1) with few notable exceptions, only governments and commercial markets have the capacity and incentive to deliver goods and services sustainably at scale; (2) transformational scaling involves permanent change in country-level systems and institutions; and (3) the time required for an effective transition to scale innovative products, services, and practices is rarely less than a decade.

Given these realities, successful scaling is almost impossible if it is not driven, led, funded, and provided by effective local institutions with the needed reach, capacity, source of funds, and staying power. Official development assistance (ODA) and private philanthropy—often delivered through time-bound, one-off projects that collectively represent a small share of the recurrent budget in many sectors and countries—are significant only to the extent they support, foster and enrich these permanent, place-based, demand-driven institutions and solutions. Simply said, no meaningful localization means no sustainable scaling.

The “sustainable outcomes at scale” argument for localization has implications for the nature of localization as well as its importance. For some, “local” means community level. For others, it means national. From the scaling perspective, national trumps local, with community-level interventions necessarily accompanied by the need for a realistic strategy for reaching very large numbers of communities. Likewise, from a scaling perspective, the first priority goes to those local institutions with the capacity and incentive to achieve development, climate, and humanitarian outcomes over time and at scale. That usually means focusing first and foremost on national and sub-national governments, linked where appropriate with major local private sector actors and key local intermediary organizations like universities, banks, and think tanks. The important exception to this is cases where these institutions are unreliable stewards and partners, but even here, the bias should be to support their reform rather than their subordination.

Fragile states are a special case because of the outsized importance of foreign assistance and the challenges posed by predatory governments, disputed legitimacy, or underperforming institutions. In these countries, people often view issues through the prism of underlying grievances, and the selection of local partners can easily have the unintended effect of exacerbating rather than mitigating these tensions. The reverse is also true. Conflict-sensitive actors and engagement strategies can sometimes provide important secondary benefits in addressing a conflict’s underlying drivers. In either event, localization is not conflict-neutral, a reality that takes on particular importance in a world where fragile states are the recipients of U.S. and global foreign assistance.

Finally, the scaling perspective has implications for the choice of local implementing partners since those organizations ideally constitute important parts of the local institutional infrastructure. A competitive assortment of effective, country-based service delivery, policy analysis, and advocacy organizations, private firms, NGOs, think tanks, and public institutions play a central role in most wealthy countries, and the strengthening of these institutions should be an important priority in emerging economies and newer democracies. That requires organizations that are built-to-purpose for local markets and requires a willingness by host governments and others to engage those institutions through grants and contracts. Foreign aid can help catalyze the evolution of this set of institutions by using them in a way that facilitates and stimulates their broad use by a host country’s government agencies and other established institutions including, but not limited to, external donors. Thus, according to insights from the SCoP, anything that supports positive movement in that regard is progress. Anything that works against the growth of a dynamic and competitive array of local public and private institutions able and willing to serve an array of domestic clients is inadvertently a step in the wrong direction.

The potential roles of international funders and implementers are significant but not central in supporting the needed changes in policy and practice. On the funding side, while external resources are small relative to the size of most problems and tend to be time-bound, they often have outsized influence when they provide the bulk of the discretionary resources needed to introduce and scale new practices. Used properly, they can materially advance sustainable scaling. Likewise, when they are inattentive to the dynamics of long-term change, they can seriously distort the incentives and strategies of local actors.

During funding implementation processes, U.S. and other international partners can play important roles as well. To mention four:

Where necessary, most obviously in fragile states, external third parties are often able to position themselves as independent actors for key analysis, convening, intermediation, and fund management activities.
In countries where there continues to be a shortage of local organizations able to meet donors’ rigorous standards, international partners can play a capacity-building role and/or shelter local actors from some of the more idiosyncratic donor requirements.
In countries where there is not yet a strong competitive market for local analytic and implementation services, donors can help to seed that market and showcase its utility.
International partners can help establish linkages for host governments and other local organizations with global expertise and with relevant organizations in the U.S. or other countries.

To contribute to sustainable outcomes at scale and effective localization, it is essential that these external funding and implementation roles be designed and performed with an explicit eye to enhancing, not substituting for, the capacity of organizations with local legitimacy and permanent national presence to occupy center stage and to perform each of these functions over time.

As the opening essay and the subsequent roundtable discussion illustrate, these and other lessons are being learned and shared in real time and at warp speed. I am genuinely excited to know what the conversation will sound like the next time we convene.

Embracing locally led approaches for equitable and effective outcomes

Locally led development is a process of transforming the current system to a more equitable one where those closest to an issue decide how it should be addressed and do so with the support of allies. Such a systemic transformation requires the engagement of multiple stakeholders, including communities, community-based and local organizations, local governments, entrepreneurs, funders, and international civil society. Indeed, most local organizations do not want INGOs to disappear. What they seek are equitable, trust-based partnerships where their knowledge, lived experience, and leadership are recognized and supported. Thus far, local actors have been squeezed for resources and forced to follow expert guidance from external actors, often against their better judgment. William Easterly’s “Tyranny of Experts” illustrates how that notion of expertise has not only been a tool of dominance but an often misguided one.

The Minority World (typically called the Global North) needs to develop greater expertise in listening, fixing the deep inequities in the global development system and supporting the wealth of local expertise in the Majority World (often referred to as the Global South). Minority World entities have to support more Majority-World experts to take the lead in all relevant research and policy analysis. Locally led development is about centering the expertise of communities and local organizations, ensuring they have the power and resources to design and implement solutions, and recognizing their ownership over these solutions.

INGOs and Minority-World actors have a role to play in locally led development. They can use their influence and reach within their own countries to amplify the voices and demands of local actors. They can also dispel myths around corruption, lack of trust and capacity of local entities, which are grounded in patterns of colonialism and structural racism. They can protest budget cuts by bilateral agencies, advocate for greater cost recovery for local organizations, well-being funds, and contingency budgets. Minority World actors can also serve as facilitators, connectors, and interpreters; funder rules and guidelines are almost always impossible to decipher, particularly when they are in foreign languages (like English or French).

The report on “The nine roles that Intermediaries can play in international cooperation” by Peace Direct provides a good starting point for Minority World actors to re-examine their roles in a locally led ecosystem in the spirit of solidarity and humility. However, what local organizations seek are not intermediaries but allies. Participants in the April roundtable frequently spoke in terms of the ecosystem that supports locally led and community-led development. USAID and others must focus on investing in ecosystems that center grassroots communities and build outwards.

What is called for is a radical commitment to “local first” in all development activities, including systems thinking and strategy design—not just priorities and implementation. In situations of poor local governance and fragility, as noted in George Ingram’s opening essay, it is actually local actors and their networks who would be best placed to undertake a systems analysis and decide how to address those challenges in the fragile environments where they work. If local actors desire external perspectives and references, they can seek out sub-regional bodies or other Minority-World actors. The role of INGOs in these situations is to support and provide information and capacity strengthening as and when requested, without overshadowing the agency and leadership of local actors.

For communities to thrive, there must be a well-financed and responsive first tier of government able to work in effective partnership with grassroots civil society. Strong local governance is a key pathway to sustainability, and it has largely been ignored and starved for resources and decision-making autonomy.

Civil society thrives and can scale up its impact when it can operate within inclusive and resourced networks from both local and global funders. Are there intermediary funding institutions that can channel and steward larger governmental, philanthropic, or ODA resources to hundreds of community-based organizations in a manner that is responsive to their needs (timing, payment modalities, size of grants)? In many countries, this is largely missing. And yet, there exist, within almost every Majority-World country, local networks of organizations that can play this role with support and resources.

USAID has taken important initial steps in becoming more accessible, with translations, a simplified website, transition grants and increased audit thresholds and per diems. One of the biggest obstacles to realizing locally led development, however, is competitive processes. The challenges of development require a whole-of-society approach that facilitates all able and willing actors to work together, not a system that makes local organizations compete with each other for scarce resources.

Decentralized development in health, education, livelihoods, etc., can be tackled the same way one would plan polio vaccinations: put the money up first, then invite various stakeholders (local government, local civil society, community leaders) around the table at the district level with a good map, align on targets and distribution of activities and means of reporting. Currently, this is done in reverse—competing consortia are formed, almost always led by INGOs or large private contractors who come up with plans with their own money; local organizations have neither the time nor resources to compete in such processes. This situation is further compounded when country offices of international organizations begin to bid in funding for local organizations.

Funders like USAID can play a vital role in transforming the development and humanitarian systems to make them more locally led. They can do this not just by providing more direct, flexible, robust, multi-year funding to local organizations but also by putting in place measures that require all implementing organizations to put communities in the driver’s seat in their programming, from planning to design, implementation, and evaluation. The measures USAID is taking to increase the de-minimis rate for indirect costs to enable cost recovery for local organizations are noteworthy. However, as long as these measures remain optional, international actors may continue to starve local organizations of much-needed operational capital to make their proposals more competitive. Similarly, co-creation can become a highly extractive exercise unless it comes with adequate compensation for the time, knowledge, and leadership of communities and local organizations.

USAID can take the following steps to not just become more locally led in its approach but to strengthen the local ecosystem:

Ensure that the policy measures being taken to support local organizations (such as the increase in de-minimis rate for indirect costs) and community leadership (such as co-creating with community members) are implemented by Minority World actors, making funding conditional on performance on these measures.
Strengthen and fund local and regional networks – these networks are composed of local organizations and can, therefore, channel funding directly to them in ways that are suitable to their needs. They are more accountable to their membership than any external intermediary and work on the principles of collaboration, not competition.
Fund and support new organizational structures based on power sharing and equitable partnerships, and innovative initiatives that strengthen the local ecosystem.
Make provisions for pre-award costs to be reimbursed through mechanisms like design phase funding and paid co-creation.
Create and maintain spaces for direct interaction with local and community-based organizations to understand how they are experiencing USAID policies and calls for proposals and how the systems can be tailored to their needs.
Continue to take steps to ensure language access and total cost recovery for local organizations.
Invest in programs that strengthen local government institutions and their capacity to work with communities.

USAID’s procurement reforms are defining the ‘how’ of localization

The U.S. development community has been advocating for locally led development under banners such as country ownership, the journey to self-reliance, and localization for more than 15 years. Yet, a significant shift occurred in 2019 when USAID released its first-ever Acquisition and Assistance (A&A) strategy . Before then, localization was more of a policy question: Would USAID actually commit to initiatives like Administrator Raj Shah’s 30% target or would that be undermined and minimized? After the A&A strategy was released, localization became more of an operational question: How would USAID do it? How would USAID change the way it does business, simplifying its requirements to award funding to acquire services and deliver assistance? How would USAID reform its procurement processes and compliance requirements so that local organizations in developing countries would see USAID as an attractive partner?

Then-USAID Administrator Mark Green wrote, “ The A&A Strategy is a shift away from traditional approaches that can unduly constrain our staff and partners … we will embrace USAID’s new approach to self-reliance … Diversifying our partner base and integrating locally-led development into how we deliver ….”

Since 2019 and the launch of the New Partnerships Initiative (NPI), less burdensome USAID procurement approaches like co-creation and concept papers have become widespread. Procurements restricted to local organizations occur regularly. USAID has begun to publish key documents in languages other than English. It has set up a website called Work with USAID.gov where local organizations can learn the basics of working with USAID and make themselves more visible to the development community.

USAID’s procurement team has also looked within the Federal Regulations to identify other opportunities for procurement reform. This year, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) took several steps in the right direction by issuing new Uniform Grants Guidance , affecting USAID and all federal agencies. One key change will allow federal grant recipients to charge up to 15% for their indirect cost recovery. That is a 50% increase over the previous ceiling, recognizing that local organizations have been absorbing the costs of doing business with USAID and that USAID should cover more of those expenses.

This issue is particularly important for expanding USAID’s partnership with local civil society organizations. Indirect cost recovery provides funding that organizations can use to strengthen their institutions, including compensating their leadership, developing proposals, training their staff, and keeping the lights on. Local organizations seeking to work with the U.S. Government for the first time do not have a Federal negotiated indirect cost rate agreement (NICRA) like established implementers and must absorb most of those costs themselves – an expense that can be prohibitive. OMB’s new Uniform Grants Guidance also embraces accepting proposals in languages other than English, lowering another barrier to entry and recognizing that local language skills are often vital for successfully implementing development and humanitarian programs.

In the same vein, a draft, the Locally Led Development and Humanitarian Response Act, would enshrine these procurement reforms and embrace several more by authorizing USAID to:

Restrict bids to local entities on awards up to $25 million, five times the current ceiling.
Accept the international accounting standards commonly used outside the U.S. so local entities expert in those practices can still apply.
Allow USAID to begin working with organizations that have been unable to register in the System for Award Management (SAM), a United States government platform for paying vendors, due to its long waitlist.

At a recent Plan International policy event , USAID’s new Chief Acquisition and Assistance Officer Jami Rodgers outlined his goals for the team of six hundred procurement professionals he leads, as they make the binding day-to-day decisions about how USAID does business. He outlined the goals of the recently launched “A&A Accelerate” initiative. This includes a focus on recruiting and retaining contracting officers and agreement officers, including by investing in the USAID mission Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs), hiring eligible family members, and leadership certification. The recent 250% increase in the number of FSNs with administrative warrants certainly helps in this regard, and their ranks should continue to expand.

Rodgers also mentioned increasing interest in innovative procurement mechanisms like transition awards (an award to a local subrecipient to help it transition to becoming a direct recipient of USAID awards) and said he has encouraged his staff to continue to pilot, test, and scale novel approaches. He pledged to provide risk tolerance that would allow USAID to do business differently in service of the goals of locally led development. Transition Awards are a type of USAID award that delivers program results while also preparing local subrecipients to manage a USAID award in the future.

Yet much remains to be done. In April , the current USAID Administrator Samantha Power testified before Congress that, “It’s also just famously hard to work with USAID. We have a lot of compliance requirements, many of which are imposed by folks up here, but many of which we would embrace ourselves … . We’ve tried to simplify the application process, so it doesn’t crowd out those who don’t have the lawyers, the accountants, you know the armies of people to be able to comply.”

As the recent USAID and OMB procurement reforms become operational, a few more of those barriers will be coming down, making USAID’s shift to direct funding of local entities less burdensome and more impactful.

Networks as the new intermediary of a locally led and globally informed approach to development

The localization agenda has helped steer the global conversation on sustainable development in new and helpful directions–centering the critical role of local leadership and expertise and challenging old ways of working informed by colonial-era practices and mindsets. This said, current commitments from global donors to local organizations alone will not be enough to achieve the locally led development paradigm. Local actors still face barriers to accessing funding and recognition. For example, USAID support remains elusive and out of reach for a significant number of local organizations despite their meeting the criteria of local actors . To bring forth the needed investment in developing new mindsets among local and global actors alike, and also to support local actors to gain access to global insights and knowledge that will enable them to work in ways that are both locally rooted and globally informed. Intermediaries, such as networks, can play a valuable role in operationalizing localization agendas.

Sustainable development happens when the people closest to the developing context drive and own the process. When the people in local communities are exposed to what’s working and what’s been learned in other similar contexts through a network of local actors, progress happens faster. This “locally led, globally informed” approach is ingrained in intermediary organizations such as Teach For All, a global network of 62 independently led and locally governed civil society organizations- including Enseña por Paraguay – that is guided by a shared purpose, values, and vision, as well as unifying principles and standards that all network partners and our global organization are governed by.

The role of a global network is to accelerate the progress of its locally led partners. Yet this network structure has to date been under-appreciated by USAID and other bilateral and multilateral organizations as a potential intermediary to both accelerate locally led development and provide operational support. For example, through networks local organizations can access coaching and guidance to bid competitively for bilateral and multilateral partnerships. Enlisting the support of a global network intermediary could help USAID move the needle towards their 25% local funding target by accessing local partners with built-in support from global counterparts. Additionally, local partners within networks could have the benefit of accessing funding and partnerships they wouldn’t otherwise have the capacity to approach or implement alone.

In some instances, local partners who participate voluntarily in order to advance their own local interests have faced penalties for being connected to a global network. This dynamic has raised the question of who defines localization. Even within the current discourse and despite well-intentioned efforts, it is too often Global North actors who set the localization priorities and approaches, while the voices of what local partners want and need are left unheard. Here again, networks are a way to enlist local partners and amplify their voices across contexts and towards a shared orientation of collective learning and impact towards our broader localization goals.

Networks are an untapped resource that could help shape a new path forward and help bridge the gap from discourse and policy to implementation and action.

Pushing the needle on localization: How international actors can find a new role through centering local actors

The Network for Empowered Aid Response (NEAR) defines localization as a transformative process of changing the way support to communities is designed, funded, and delivered, where local response systems have the agency and resources they require to support communities before, during, and after crises. This approach not only strengthens the efficacy and sustainability of aid but also challenges existing power dynamics within the aid system by placing local response systems at the heart of community support. Local actors and communities must be at the forefront of driving, designing, and delivering aid, given their deep understanding of the complexities and needs within their communities.

International actors have a role to play, especially in response to increasing needs and more complex crises. To find their new role within the system, they must actively shift power to local organizations and be rooted in the values of solidarity, complementarity, trust, and equity. In practice, this would mean not only supporting but actively facilitating and centering the work of local actors and communities, strengthening their existing efforts without overshadowing their leadership.

There is concern, though, about the instrumentalization of the localization agenda by some international actors as the agenda gains greater political visibility within the global development sector. For example, there have been instances where INGOs nationalize their country offices or decentralize power from headquarters to country offices, conflating this with localization. Such actions can not only stall but even undermine the more ambitious objectives of localization—not to mention negatively impact the agency of communities and the role of local and national civil society. While the continuous growth of some international intermediaries is antithetical to localization, it is noteworthy that other INGOs are beginning to explore different business models. One example is ADD International , an INGO that is successfully shifting away from a traditional INGO structure with a UK-based head office and country offices, establishing a new global structure and exiting from existing programs within five years.

The challenges laid out above underscore the importance of establishing an agreed-upon definition of localization and of local actors, supported by local actors themselves. Definitions are indeed challenging; however, extensive work on the definition of local actor has already been done, paving a way for international actors to stand in solidarity and utilize a robust definition that has broad-based support among local civil society. For example, NEAR’s membership has defined non-state local organizations as those that are “present in locations before, during, and after a crisis; accountable to local laws; accountable to communities where they work; led by local nationals, and not internationally affiliated in terms of branding, governance, or financing (that results from that affiliation)”. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee also has a widely endorsed definition of local actors , utilized by a number of donors.

Another concern is that localization has stalled in humanitarian contexts. Both of USAID’s “Localization Progress Report” show that USAID funding to local actors for humanitarian assistance sits at approximately 1%, compared to the FY23 overall average of 9.6% of agency obligations. This figure is mirrored in the wider global humanitarian system, where only 1.2% of funding went to local actors in 2022. That same year, funding to international multilateral actors increased by 47% .

While international actors struggle to meet their localization targets, particularly in humanitarian contexts, local actors are creating ways to advance localization within even the most challenging environments. The Local Intermediary Actor Network (LIA) , for example, is committed to increasing funding accessed by smaller local and grassroots organizations. Another example is NEAR’s Change Fund , a global humanitarian response fund that is locally led, from its governance to its funding decisions. In some cases, philanthropic organizations—due to their higher degree of flexibility in funding—have played a key role in supporting new initiatives to get off the ground. USAID and other donors should leverage the collaboration and learning potential presented by the “ Donor Statement on Locally Led Development ,” which includes both government and philanthropic signatories.

Recommendations

Donors such as USAID play a vital role in creating policies and guidance that push international intermediaries to rethink their business models, act as equitable partners, and channel higher-quality funding to local actors. Donors can also require international actors, including U.N. agencies, to provide justification when not working with local actors, as well as exit strategies that were once common but increasingly a thing of the past. These changes, both incremental and cultural, push the needle toward local actors being in control of priority setting, design, and execution.

USAID should also:

Incentivize and prioritize international intermediaries that are adopting new business models, shifting from models centered on their own continuous financial growth to models that are based on solidarity with local actors.
Listen to local actors and measure progress on localization based on how local actors define progress themselves.
Sustain and scale localization efforts in humanitarian contexts, where solidarity is needed most.

Support emerging and transformational locally led financing models to play a role in creating the system of solidarity of the future.

Global health and localization: While debating the need, we are missing the fact

Like the debate around renewable energy in the U.S., the debate around localization feels removed from reality.

In terms of energy, people joust about coal, renewables, and fracking, but the energy marketplace is already moving to its own rhythm toward pragmatic energy investments. For example, more than 80% of new electric generating capacity in the U.S. this year will be solar and battery storage investments.

Similarly, few people contest any longer the reality around localization in the development sector, and localization themes already dictate decision-making by funders and INGO implementers. The INGO development landscape “operating system” is heavily weighted toward local ownership, solutions, and implementation.

Yet, the binary of the localization conversation persists, and it’s a risk. Are you local? International? Both? One, but trying to pretend to be the other? The goal should be a healthy ecosystem that advances development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), rights, progress, universal health coverage (UHC), and more. (Ruth Berg’s Friday Notes from December of 2023 captures the risk of the binary nicely.)

Instead of local versus international, it is the networked, transnational development model that appeals to an organization like mine, Population Services International (PSI). Like many INGOs, we see the value in local leadership and local context expertise, and we see the primacy of individual health consumer voices in the conceptualization and design of our interventions. National governments play a critical role in directing the flow of donor resources and coordinating civil society interventions—in our case of the health sector—to drive progress on health indicators and system resilience. Our role as an INGO is constantly evolving and adapting as local capacities strengthen and different actors become better positioned for implementation.

But just as local or national context specialists and implementers become more important, the need for transnational connection and learning grows even stronger. International implementers have decades of experience with large institutional funders and their compliance loads (e.g., USAID, the Global Fund); INGOs have developed purpose-built capabilities for resource mobilization from institutions and individuals that meet an obvious need in a sector where access to funding is getting more challenging, not less.

Funders looking for scalable solutions to transnational health and development challenges often insist on transnational implementing partners. This preference arises from a desire to try a similar approach in multiple settings, achieve economies of scale in implementation, and to capture wider learnings faster.

PSI has observed a growing number of USAID awards that require INGOs to help to nurture and grow local implementers to eventually assume a “prime” role during the latter stages of an award. In some cases this has involved creating a local entity that can mature quickly or working with existing local entities to advance their institutional development. PSI has prioritized the institutional development of its own implementing infrastructure. This includes establishing structured governance processes at the country level, building networks for independent board directors who will become future governors of independent institutions, solidifying risk management and internal audit cultures within local entities, and partnering in these efforts once parts of PSI have been spun off to become independent.

In the last decades, we have spun off more than a dozen such entities, in our own institutional development journey. Examples include the Society for Family Health (Nigeria), Population Solutions for Health (Zimbabwe), and Family Health Solutions (Malawi). These entities have established themselves as national civil society implementers providing value to their host governments, funders, and health consumers. Whether they choose to work with us on future opportunities is a matter of sovereign decision-making. But we value sustaining bonds of connection with these entities, as they share our strategic approach and engage in parallel problem-solving to PSI.

How can USAID and other funders continue to foster the development of this ecosystem of health implementers, including local, national, and international entities from both the Global North and the Global South? Much work has already been done in this regard. Key elements to ensure continued progress include:

Transparency of dialogue and discussion with partners (to the extent permitted by procurement and acquisition restrictions) by USAID missions, regarding what is possible and by when as countries continue to take ownership of their development journeys. The fact that INGOs or local partners may be interested parties does not mean they don’t have valid points of view to share about the unintended effects of local or international procurement mandates. As U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator John Nkengasong often says, localization is not the objective; ending the HIV epidemic is the objective. Respectful dialogue about tactics versus strategies is often a missing part of the wider conversation with USAID.
More resources for the Office of Acquisitions and Assistance (OAA) and more contracting and agreement officers overall across the agency are vital. Because more partners and more local partners mean more and smaller awards. The personnel needed to speed up this process are often lacking.
The agency’s decision to increase the de minimus indirect cost recovery level from 10% to 15% of an award is very important and should unlock easier participation by local or national entities that do not have the track record to have justified a NICRA (negotiated indirect cost rate agreement). The lower level was too much of a disincentive to established local players whose cost structure and ability to deliver value were not meaningfully captured by a 10% cap. No one should fall for the fallacy that local implementation is or should be cheaper implementation, because it is not.

From Paris to progress: Moving the locally led agenda forward

George Ingram’s opening essay uses the 2005 “Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness” as its opening framing. We would argue that the Declaration, certainly a milestone when it was released almost twenty years ago, is no longer the most appropriate framework for assessing development effectiveness.

Since the “racial reckoning” that emerged in 2020, the international development sector has witnessed arguably the most profound challenge to its legitimacy in its history, with calls to decolonize donor and INGO practice and shift power to local organizations and leadership. Through this lens, the “Paris Declaration,” with its five equally weighted principles, looks outdated.

In global consultations Peace Direct has organized over the years, local actors around the world have articulated time and time again that local ownership is both the process and the destination. It is not simply a means to an end. This is the case even if it is less effective, at least in the short-to-medium term. This may seem counterintuitive to development professionals who wax lyrical about the virtues and importance of aid effectiveness, but let’s pause for a moment and consider the following:

Are local organizations allowed to make mistakes as they navigate the complex contexts they operate in and gain experience in aspects of work that they have not had the opportunity to lead before? Mistakes are a rich source of learning, and yet local organizations are punished for making them because to do so makes them less effective implementers in the eyes of donors.
Should local organizations in all areas be expected to compete equally as effectively with infinitely better-resourced INGOs despite decades of under-investment, prejudice, and patronizing behavior by donors and policymakers?

There has never been a level playing field, and there still isn’t one, so let’s not assume that local organizations can score goals each and every time the ball is passed to them. To be clear, local leadership does lead to better outcomes for communities, but one cannot assume that this will always happen quickly. This is why discussions around aid effectiveness should be reframed to consider issues of power, equity, dignity, and agency, which are aspects absent in most global frameworks. Inserting these dimensions reinforces why local ownership is so important in the debate around aid effectiveness.

If local ownership is both the journey and destination, it then becomes abundantly clear why definitions of local matter so much. Ask a local organization based in the Global South whether a country office of an INGO is genuinely local, and they’ll typically tell you no , in no uncertain terms. They will tell you the same for any of the other contortions that Global-North actors are performing to persuade themselves that there is a definition of local that applies to them. It is important for INGOs to accept the role of external actor.

What has been encouraging throughout Peace Direct’s consultations at the global, regional, national, and local levels over the past few years with local actors is that INGOs, donors, and other intermediary organizations do have important roles to play in rebuilding a new system of international cooperation. The quicker INGOs, bilateral donors, and other intermediary organizations can embrace their new roles and give space to local and community-based organizations, the more likely a reimagined system can begin to take shape.

So, what do these roles look like if they are not the traditional implementer, technical expert, funder, or grant manager? In early 2023, Peace Direct, an organization that has no country offices, employs no overseas staff, and does not implement projects directly, published a report outlining “ The Nine Roles that Intermediaries Can Play in International Cooperation . ” The report highlights tangible, important roles for INGOs to play: interpreter, knowledge broker, trainer, convenor, connector, advocate, watchdog, critical friend and sidekick. Each one of these roles offers enormous potential to support locally led development in ways that are respectful and appropriate for this moment of transition, moving from an old paradigm into a new one.

It is important to note, however, that some of these roles should be temporary. They are designed to plug holes in a system that does not work as it should. In the effort to find relevance in a system in which Northern organizations have been dominant for so long, let’s not rush headfirst into a new set of roles that entrench positions of power and privilege. Ultimately, any new roles for intermediaries will not sustain the sector at the same size as it is now, and nor should they. The international role should diminish over time. That’s a measure of success in this new important reality.

In reimagining a new system, new structures, and operating dynamics should not come from the existing ways of doing. They must come from collaboration with the communities the locally led agenda seeks to center. A reimagined system of international cooperation should be mutually beneficial and uphold the value and dignity of local and community-based organizations in the Global South. It should address conscious and unconscious power dynamics, overcome the negative perceptions between local organizations and donors, and move away from extractive practices and toward more collaborative approaches. This is the message we heard loud and clear from a recent global consultation with activists and local actors from the Global South on how partnerships should look between the Global North and the Global South. The findings from that consultation can be found in the report “ Transforming partnerships in international cooperation .”

Most importantly, the four most commonly cited values that emerged from the consultation that should underpin the new system of international cooperation are trust, humility, respect, and mutuality/reciprocity. These might sound simple, but based on existing practice, they appear fiendishly difficult to embody. This is perhaps the most damning critique of the international development sector to date; that the values considered commonsense in how we treat our fellow human beings are not how Global South actors experience Global North professionals. We can and must do better.

Shifting INGOs to be the backbone of locally led development

As international development NGOs seek to adapt their expertise, experience, and leadership to support localization, they might find value in seeing themselves as a version of a “ backbone organization ,” a typology that has emerged from the collective impact movement in the U.S.

Collective impact is an approach that brings a diverse array of stakeholders together in collaborative partnerships focused on making social progress, often across a whole system, in a defined geographic place. A good backbone organization helps build and deepen the “civic infrastructure” that is key to successful collective impact, enabling expertise, relationships, resources, goal setting, data collection and analysis, and more. Backbones do not directly execute or manage programmatic interventions but instead enable the local changemakers who are doing the work by providing a variety of expertise, resources, and training.

Backbone organizations at the national level generally support a network of local place-based partners to succeed: Strive Together (where I serve on the board of directors), for example, serves a network of roughly 70 partnerships in communities across the U.S. The activities of a national backbone mirror many of the competencies and skills that INGOs have developed over time. While the analogy is not a perfect one, one could imagine an INGO developing a core strategy that is focused on serving and enabling a range of locally led organizations in the Global South, using lessons learned from the approach and mindset used by backbone entities in the U.S.

What are some of the key responsibilities of a backbone organization that could help define the core elements of a modern INGO in the age of localization?

Help local changemakers have a clear purpose and vision, and build the capacity and organizational strength to pull it off.

A backbone in the collective impact model offers tools and training designed to help its local place-based partners maximize their impact, taking advantage of proven methods to strengthen organizational development and ensure an effective purpose, strategy, and execution.

Strive Together, for example, has developed a theory of action that lays out the pillars of success for its partnerships mapped across a continuum of stages, so a local partner has the basis for building its strategy and can measure its own growth. Strive also facilitates peer exchange and relationships among all the partnerships in its network, providing the basis for shared learning, support, and leadership.

It has also created a training hub that offers a wide range of courses and trainings designed to help the staff and leadership of its local place-based partnerships grow in effectiveness and leadership. It also provides crucial and trusted support as organizations experience leadership transition, changes in resources, and other challenges.

Help set up and enable the effective collection and use of data.

Locally led partners often find it challenging to access, collect, manage, and make the most effective use of data. Backbones entities can leverage economies of scale to access investments in data infrastructure, collection, and analysis, bringing specialized expertise and offering training, experience, and infrastructure to their local partners. From technical data-sharing agreements, to physical infrastructure, to staff expertise to maximize the use of evidence and data in driving results, national backbones are the nexus for a wide range of services specific to the needs of the organizations in their networks.

Help build sustainable leaders, organizations, and interventions.

Backbone organizations help the partners and organizations in their network strengthen their long-term viability. In an era of localization, this might mean managing investments that require mechanisms at a scale that would be difficult for a local partner to do. It could also mean enabling a collective push for policy changes that the members of its network are prioritizing. A backbone is well-placed to help a network of local partners develop a shared policy agenda and collective strategy, and help that network sustain their efforts and facilitate the relationships necessary to make it a reality.

INGOs that follow best practices currently root their work in local expertise and knowledge, utilizing local people to run their projects. Many of them already perform various elements of what a national backbone organization does. Yet they are still often in the primary role of receiving the funds, developing the interventions, running the programs, and being accountable for the results. Adopting a backbone mindset means that INGOs would shift to see themselves as enablers of local organizations that would be the ones leading, owning, and doing that work.

Rather than create the program or system, ensure its effectiveness, and—once established—hand it off to local civil society or government, an INGO with a backbone mindset would see their role as bringing and building the capacity of local actors, who from the start would own and direct the programmatic interventions. Their currency and value proposition would lie in accompaniment, building the expertise and impact of local actors, facilitating a network that collectively engages on shared priorities and policy imperatives, and elevating that network’s shared purpose to new audiences. Many INGOs already do much of this: the change would be to take themselves fully out of the driver’s seat.

Not whether, but how international expertise can advance locally led development

There is a role for international expertise and intermediary organizations to facilitate global development. But that role has shifted since the pandemic, which shut down international travel and forced organizations to reimagine their operations. Moreover, the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 sparked a global reevaluation of organizational structures and systems to promote inclusivity and equity. As a result of these two dramatic societal shifts that intensified calls for the decolonization of development, international assistance organizations have been forced to not only make statements about more inclusive and equitable development but also walk the talk internally in their operations.

During my 26 years as a Foreign Service officer at USAID, including as counselor when I was designated to lead the localization efforts on behalf of the administrator under the Obama administration, I saw progress. But I am struck by today’s unparalleled focus on locally led development across the international assistance community. Under Administrator Raj Shah, a target of 30% was set for local organizations to receive direct USAID funding. Under Administrator Mark Green, the journey to self-reliance was the mantra with each USAID Mission developing country roadmaps in partnership with host countries. Under Samantha Power’s administration of USAID, locally led development builds on previous efforts and is augmented by the upheaval over the past four years that has accelerated a questioning of the role of international expertise and intermediary organizations. Although targets have been set for 25% of funding to be directed to local partners and 50% of programming to place local communities in the lead, the global development landscape has changed dramatically and requires an enhanced approach to how international organizations approach the use of international expertise. A target such as 50% is no longer acceptable. Rather, the goal of 100% for local engagement should be the new norm. This awakening not only affects bilateral and multilateral donors but also philanthropy and corporate donors.

International development is at an inflection point, demanding more be done by global donors who control resources to improve global human development. As Administrator Power recently testified (at minutes 37:40-38:25), “We basically have programmatic dollars that have gone up 68% over recent years and operational expenses that have gone up 27%. So even with you (Congress) protecting our operational expenses, we’re still seeing a 3% cut in FY 24 … But that’s a big issue as we seek, again, to invest the staff time in working with local organizations and smaller organizations.” 3 The administrator went on to highlight the importance of growing USAID’s contracting officer workforce and empowering local staff, but there will never be enough USAID staff to partner with a larger percentage of local organizations, which is exactly the reason international intermediaries are needed.

In 1991, following the Haitian coup d’état that deposed President Aristide, I, an inexperienced 25-year-old Presidential Management Fellow, was sent by USAID to run an office in Haiti. I quickly learned that the local Foreign Service National (FSN) staff and partners were the true knowledge centers, not Washington and surely not me. Over the years, I saw USAID make changes to ensure FSNs were at the table and local voices were consulted on everything from strategy to program implementation. I was heartened under the Obama Administration that this was elevated as a priority, which continued during both the Trump and Biden administrations. But given security access and unconscious bias, local staff and partners were and still continue to be prevented from being treated as equals in USAID.

There should be no debate about whether international expertise and organizations are needed, but there should be great debate about how they engage with local organizations. The organization I led from 2019 to 2024, the International Youth Foundation (IYF), was founded with localization at its core, as demonstrated by its policy of not placing expats overseas unless required by the donor.

However, like other international development organizations, IYF had a large headquarters based in the U.S. with American executive and senior leadership teams responsible for the management and expertise delivered in countries across the globe in partnership with local actors. With the onset of the pandemic and global protests in 2020, IYF restructured its operations to reduce the size of its U.S. operations and shift roles to its local offices to directly deliver technical and operational support to local partners. This flipped the role of international expertise to one of supporting local teams as they directly strengthened local systems and built capacity, including financial, administrative, measurement, and evaluation, along with a host of technical areas led by local program teams. As a result, IYF’s executive and senior leadership teams evolved from being wholly American based in the Washington D.C. bubble to a diverse and inclusive team with representatives across the world. Moreover, the global team consisting primarily of Americans now plays a very different role than previously by supporting rather than leading local teams.

This is but one model of how an INGO can play an intermediary role in supporting locally led development. There are many more across the international development community. I would urge USAID to create an incentive for the sharing of case studies that can then inform USAID’s approach.

Many international organizations are on this journey of creating more equitable and inclusive models, which are critical to meeting the moment of a dramatically changed development landscape. International expertise will continue to be needed to play a supporting role to local organizations and actors. As much as USAID and other large bilateral donors and large philanthropies would like to increase direct engagement with local organizations, it requires staff. It is much easier for intermediary organizations that have a diverse funding pool to work in partnership with local actors, including government, private, and civil society, to co-design and implement initiatives. I hope people stop asking if there is a role for international expertise and start focusing on how it can be done for more inclusive and equitable development where local actors are in charge of their destiny.

As local as you can get

At the heart of locally led development and humanitarian action is the fundamental question: What, exactly , is local? Is it having local leadership, local boards, local registration, local affiliation, or all the above? These issues consume many of debates within CARE’s advocacy community.

Ironically, all these questions exclude the most local of all entities: community-based organizations (CBOs). These are the actors we should be centering. They are as local as you can get.

While there is no official data for assistance flows to sub-national organizations, it’s safe to say that very little aid reaches CBOs, which are, by definition, created and run by people from and in the community they serve. Many are not officially registered units, nor do they have organizational bank accounts or boards of directors, rendering them invisible to the locally led agenda. Most often, a visionary leader represents the entity, but that does not mean they are opaque, undemocratic, or unaccountable.

In every country to which I have traveled over three decades in the international development sector, there are virtually always local initiatives run by women at the village level. Some, like the Mata Masu Dubara networks of Niger , are highly organized networks with transparent governance systems. But most often, they are simply a motivated group of women who decided to take matters into their own hands and uplift their communities.

These micro-sized CBOs can have macro-sized impacts. One example of this type of group is the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA). These are far more than the typical savings group. VSLAs in over 77 countries have launched women into politics, taken on COVID-19 surveillance and education, reduced gender-based violence in households, and sent generations of children to school —all without an outside financial investment. Small impact? Multiply this by more than 800,000 VSLA groups worldwide.

It is rare that a CBO will be able to access anyone at USAID, let alone complete an application or meet compliance requirements. So, how to get funds to these highly impactful informal actors?

One answer is through a process called accompaniment in which intermediaries, which take many forms, walk alongside CBOs and provide advice when asked, capacity when invited, and small grants or fixed obligation awards exactly when and how the CBO needs them. Sometimes, this takes the form of buying a group a vehicle, paying for event space and catering, purchasing building supplies for the community, or paying for a trainer. It is really not that complicated. But it does require intermediaries to be in close contact over a long period of time with CBOs and their communities, much like foundation program officers track their grantees over time. Some international organizations have been doing this effectively for decades.

This approach delivers transparency and accountability to taxpayers and lawmakers. The intermediary organization is responsible for justifying and documenting each and every disbursement of funds or purchases, as every single partner to USAID does already.

A year after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, I traveled to rural Sri Lanka and met an extraordinary group of women who named themselves the Tsunami Women’s Network. This group of women banded together and pooled what little they had to start helping other women in the community recover from the physical and emotional devastation.

As I wrote in my book, “Teach a Woman to Fish,” one of the women in the group shared with me:

“All these charity groups came and then they withdrew. They did not have a long-term plan or program. Asha (name changed) suggested to us that a women’s savings society wasn’t the end of the journey, that we have to go further. At the initial stages she visited us several times, and she told us about how they organized themselves in [her village, location removed]. Asha pointed out the value of organizing and getting together. She also invited us to go to [her village]; that gave us an insight as to how we could organize ourselves. We started with the savings scheme, and now we have four divisions of savings groups. We got ourselves all together and formed the Tsunami Women’s Network. … It was a new era for us. Now we can go anywhere, talk to anybody, and ask any question we want. We are powerful now.” 4

Another of the members of the network scaled up this power for broader impact. Aruna’s (name changed) village had no water to drink. So instead of doing nothing, she organized a strong advocacy campaign. As she told the story : “I said to the local politician, ‘You provide the water, we’ll provide the labor.’ The village got the trenches ready, laid the pipes, and then told the guy, ‘Now turn on our water.’ The politician was so shocked, he went running and did it right then.” 5

Local groups of women acting together. This is where the magic is happening. Let’s get as local as we can and help these powerful community change agents get things done.

Cultivating a healthy global development ecosystem by harnessing the strategic power of organizational operations

George Ingram’s opening essay notes that the “2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness” memorialized donor commitment to an effective, sustainable sector by adopting locally led approaches. Since then, donors have set increasingly specific targets for both the direct funding of local organizations and the integration of local leadership into the framing, design, implementation, evaluation, and accountability of development interventions.

As a Humentum report noted earlier this year, donor governments have deepened their fidelity to localization through the 2016 Grand Bargain localization commitments, the partnership principles of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , the Local SDG Platform , the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability , the Charter for Change , and the 2022 Donor Statement on Supporting Locally Led Development endorsed by 21 donor countries and subsequently by 26 private foundations. While divergent in their definitions of what constitutes local, these mechanisms reflect a general appreciation that donors and other stakeholders should be “recognising and enabling local actors’ agency in: framing; design; delivery, including control over resources; and accountability, in given local and operating contexts” where they work.

Given this nearly two-decade push for locally led approaches, some have expressed exasperation and disillusionment with the sheer dearth of funders, including USAID, who have yet to achieve these targets. They ask, “Why aren’t we there yet, and is it even possible?”

It is possible, and necessary. Increasingly, global development professionals view the sector as an interrelated and interdependent ecosystem. It is an ecosystem in which USAID and other donors, INGOs, and local organizations, including civil society organizations (CSOs) and national nongovernmental organizations (NNGOs), are highly interdependent for their institutional health and overall impact.

Humentum ’s recent report, “ Operationalizing Locally-Led Development: Cultivating a Healthy Global Development Ecosystem ,” stresses that the current health of this ecosystem, however, is undermined by power imbalances, collective mistrust, funding inefficiencies, and largely transactional partnerships. Indeed, for far too long, donors and international organizations have dictated too many programming elements. With few exceptions, donors have meted out highly restricted, compliance-laden funding that fails to fully cover CSOs’ costs of doing the work. As a result, CSOs and their leaders—those closest to the need—are frequently under-resourced, under-valued, and marginalized by the very sector that depends on their success. All of this, in turn, has reinforced deeply entrenched power imbalances.

There is a growing recognition that for the whole to be healthy, each institutional actor needs adequate resources, organizational autonomy, operational capacity, and relational power to thrive. Adopting a systems-change approach, seen through the lenses of locally led and equity, can channel common values to build and buttress the systems and structure of collective work, determine who does the work and how to work together, identify how that work is funded, and agree to shared accountability structures for how the work is being done.

Since 2021, Humentum’s engagement with around 5,000 professionals from over 100 countries to identify and interrogate the hydraulics of sector transformation uncovered within four key components of organizational operating models strategic steps to cultivate a healthy ecosystem. These include:

Institutional architecture : Make change happen through more decentralized, democratized governance and organizational structures , bringing decision-making and resources closer to those who do the work.
People and culture : Implement equitable and values-based human resources and compensation policies and practices , taking a principles-based approach to managing people, organizations, and partnerships.
Funding and financial systems : Fully fund organizational operating and overhead costs, ending the non-profit starvation cycle , invest in institutional capacity, and create mechanisms for more locally defined, flexible, trust-based funding.
Risk and compliance : Design and implement protocols for risk-sharing (rather than risk transfer), mutual accountability, and simplified and harmonized due diligence and compliance requirements.

For a healthy global development sector, the focus must be on “how” locally led and equitable development is operationalized. Truly transformative change to the ecosystem will most readily happen when the sector harnesses the levers of change within individual and collective operational policies, practices, and principles. This can be simultaneously simple and complex because the “how” looks different depending on where you sit in the ecosystem:

Donors: Donors have a special opportunity and obligation to nurture and sustain the global development ecosystem. Because they control the purse strings, donors’ power can subordinate and stifle the role of international and local actors alike. To enable the sector’s transformation, donors must fund the transformation process. (Re)balancing power requires the financial resources, systems-change tools, and accountability mechanisms necessary to incentivize transformation. Donors should invest their resources in the operational vitality of organizations and then get out of their way. Let them do what they do best without imposing arcane and burdensome compliance requirements: Provide flexible, multiyear funding, full cost recovery (cover overhead expenses), and unrestricted funding. Donors should challenge themselves to implement simplified, flexible procurement processes that facilitate local actor design and leadership. Finally, all donors with locally led targets, such as USAID, should set and mandate reporting on indicators that track progress to local ownership as both a process and an outcome. USAID could increase accessibility to its funding by simplifying procurement mechanisms and compliance requirements that are within its control. For instance, USAID could uniformly apply its policies and practices to U.S.-based and non-U.S. entities alike, mandate reporting on its localization indicator, and include in its funding agreements clear expectations, when and where applicable, for CSO leadership and INGO capacity-building, networking, advocacy, and similar roles.
International (for-profit and non-profit) organizations: INGOs can make a change when they interrogate their operating structures, hiring, retention, and compensation policies, examine their due diligence requirements of CSO partners, and ensure they are playing a value-add role in the sector by bringing globally-tested approaches, experience, tools, and advocacy for locally led development. INGOs can infuse the values underpinning locally led, equitable development in how they convene, partner, capacity build, and implement programs. By being introspective and transforming their operations, INGOs exercise their power to enable a healthy ecosystem. This work is well underway – with many INGOs in the “messy middle” of the transformation journey.
Local or national civil Society organizations : CSOs can live their values by reflecting them in their operating policies and practices. They can invest time and resources in peer-to-peer learning opportunities, operational development, and storytelling for greater impact. CSOs are increasingly harnessing the power of the collective through regional and global networks to influence donor policy change, demanding greater deference to their deep experience and expertise.

Save the Children’s recommendations for advancing local engagement through programming and procurement

Localized approaches that shift power, influence, and resources to those affected by development challenges and humanitarian crises produce better and more sustainable results. Save the Children’s localization policy supports this understanding by acting as an ally to local actors, including communities and children themselves, in elevating their voice and leadership to drive locally meaningful change. Historically , Save the Children has emphasized the agency and leadership of children and local actors to drive this change through various initiatives, including child rights governance and community-led development. In response to growing development and humanitarian challenges the world over, and an intensified sector-wide push to advance locally led solutions, Save the Children is reevaluating its engagement with local stakeholders and communities. A long-term transformation is taking place to better fulfill this ambition.

USAID’s efforts to advance locally led development and humanitarian assistance in its programming and procurement represent a significant advancement. While progress is ongoing, concerted efforts have resulted in increased and higher-quality funding going directly to local and national actors. Additionally, the introduction of 14 Locally Led Programs indicators will guide more equitable and meaningful engagement of local actors across USAID’s portfolio. USAID’s efforts to engage with peer donors to influence their adoption of this agenda showcase a significant advancement beyond its own programs. These efforts, and more, have the potential to contribute to a fundamental shift in how the development and humanitarian sector operates, fostering a more complementary ecosystem of actors working together at the international, regional, national, and local levels to effectively respond to the greatest challenges of our times.

Much remains to be done. Globally, local and national actors still struggle to access direct funding despite various pledges and commitments, and in some contexts are being pushed out of their own markets by local affiliates of international organizations they struggle to compete against. Moreover, despite sector-wide efforts to foster more meaningful and equitable partnerships between local, national, and international actors, many of the local actors Save the Children interacts with in many countries report not feeling the results of this transformation at scale. In many contexts, Save the Children staff observe the push for localization resulting in the consolidation of considerable resources and power in the hands of a limited group of large, well-established national entities, limiting the engagement of a diverse range of local stakeholders and diminishing their ability to meaningfully lead change in the communities they represent.

In order to better ensure the meaningful participation of local actors and to foster a more complementary ecosystem of actors at all levels, donors like USAID can and should leverage programming and procurement practices to incentivize this change at scale. USAID could consider the following actions:

The Locally Led Programs indicators are intended to create agency-wide incentives to use partner-led approaches like program co-design and demand-driven capacity strengthening. To maximize the transformational impact of these indicators, USAID should extend these reporting expectations to INGO partners for their engagement with local and national actors. 
USAID is now translating bids into multiple languages and allowing non-English submissions. Simplifying proposal instruments, specifically notices of funding opportunities and requests for proposals, and increasing the use of concept notes and oral submissions must make headway. The current instruments are dense, burdensome, and difficult to navigate for local groups, especially from non-English speaking countries.
 International actors clearly have important roles to play in localized development and humanitarian sectors. However, many will not grow into these roles without the right incentives. To foster these shifts in roles, USAID could make greater use of existing and new procurement mechanisms that delineate specific roles for international, local, and national partners such as the New Partnerships Initiative , Transition Awards , eligibility restricted solicitations (e.g., “locals only”), and more.
When considering how to foster more meaningful and consistent engagement of local actors in USAID processes, it becomes critical to define whose engagement is being sought out. As indicated in Publish What You Fund’s “ Metrics Matter II ” report, roughly half of the funding reported under USAID’s 25% direct local funding target is going to truly indigenous entities originating from the communities they serve. To ensure that a diverse range of truly local voices are engaged in USAID programming and procurement, USAID could apply the IASC (Inter-agency Standing Committee) definition of local and national non-state actor in reporting against its 25% direct funding target, in line with its status as a signatory to the Grand Bargain .
Fostering meaningful engagement with local actors takes time and visibility. Tools like the USAID Business Forecast offer invaluable insights into USAID’s programming priorities in advance. However, in the absence of a Request for Information, draft Request for Applications , and other forms of prior notice, development partners often lack insight into the detailed programmatic priorities of USAID Missions. Without these insights, organizations may struggle to identify the right partners to engage meaningfully in the early stages of program design. USAID could provide more details on their programmatic priorities in the USAID Business Forecast to better support the early engagement of local partners in true co-design.

USAID has made important progress on commitments to be more locally led and to shift more and better-quality funding to local actors. To enhance locally led development and humanitarian solutions, consistent and scalable implementation of these commitments will be essential.

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Definition Essay
Definition Essay - A Complete Guide and Examples
Definition Essay Examples and Topic Ideas
How can you define a term beyond a few words? Learn the structure of a definition essay and read two examples of essays about concrete and abstract concepts.
How to Write a Definition Essay: Explanation, Tips, & Examples
A definition essay meaning suggests it is a type of academic writing that aims to provide a comprehensive explanation of a particular construct or concept. Unlike other forms of essays that may focus on argumentation or persuasion, a definition essay primarily seeks to elucidate the meaning of the chosen motif. ...
Definition Essay
Definition Essay - Excelsior OWL
Definition Essay
A definition essay is a type of essay that defines a term, a concept, or an idea. The difference, however, in a simple definition and a definition essay is that a simple definition is a literal definition, while a definition essay covers all the connotative and denotative definitions of a term. A definition essay introduces the term, concept ...
How to Write a Definition Essay
How to Write a Definition Essay | English Composition 1
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Essay | Definition, Types, Examples, & Facts
3.2: How to Write a Definition Essay
Keep the definition in your thesis brief and basic. You will elaborate on it more in the body of your paper. Avoid using passive phrases involving the word "is" when defining your term. The phrases "is where" and "is when" are especially clunky. [6] Do not repeat part of the defined term in your definition.
Essay Definition & Meaning
The meaning of ESSAY is an analytic or interpretative literary composition usually dealing with its subject from a limited or personal point of view. How to use essay in a sentence. Synonym Discussion of Essay.
ESSAY
ESSAY definition: 1. a short piece of writing on a particular subject, especially one done by students as part of the…. Learn more.
How to Write a Definition Essay (with Pictures)
How to Write a Definition Essay (with Pictures)
Essay: Definition and Examples
Definition essays define an idea or concept. Compare/Contrast essays will look at two items and show how they are similar (compare) and different (contrast). b. Persuasive. An argumentative paper presents an idea or concept with the intention of attempting to change a reader's mind or actions. These may be written in second person, using ...
How to Write a Definition Essay
Overview of a Definition Essay. A definition is often used in various essay types to explain a concept. Definition essays can discuss a word's significance, correct misconceptions, argue for a preferred definition, or argue for a new understanding of the word. Definitions provide readers a deep understanding of not only a word's meaning but ...
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How to Write a Definition Essay: Student's Simple Solution
How to Write a Definition Essay: Outline, Examples
Definition Essay Example for Students Given that definition essay example can be much more helpful in familiarizing readers with this type of essay, below we provide such a sample (the thesis is italicized).. Justice Justice is hugely important element for relationships between individuals and virtually for any human group, however small - obviously, this applies to society as a whole ...
Definition Essay: Topics, Tips and Outline
Definition essays that focus on a place tend to explore a specific type of place and how you as the writer view this particular place. Types of places which may be assigned are a country, state, city, neighborhood, park, house, or a room. The place may be huge or small. A key to writing a good definition essay focused on the place is to select ...
How to Write a Definition Essay
Part 2 of 3: Potential Elements of an Effective Definition. 1: Write an analysis.[4] Separate a word into various parts. Analyze and define each part in its own paragraph. You can separate "return" into "re-" and "turn.". The word "friendship" can be separated into "friend" and "ship.".
Essay
Definition of Essay. Essay is derived from the French word essayer, which means "to attempt," or "to try."An essay is a short form of literary composition based on a single subject matter, and often gives the personal opinion of the author. A famous English essayist, Aldous Huxley defines essays as, "a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything.
Definition and Examples of Essays or Compositions
What Are the Different Types and Characteristics of Essays?
What is an essay?
An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates. In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills. Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative: you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence ...
What is an Essay? Definition, Types and Writing Tips by HandMadeWriting
What is an Essay? Definition, Types and Writing Tips ...
Read an Example of a Definition Essay and Improve Your Skills
One standard definition of an essay is love. Confession of feelings, the usual conversation about love, the definition of terminal love, and challenging tasks. Despite the extreme complexity of the issue, the theme of love is trendy. That is why we advise you to look at the topics we offer. From love to hate, one step.
ESSAY Definition & Meaning
Essay definition: a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.. See examples of ESSAY used in a sentence.
Therefor or Therefore
Therefor meaning. Nowadays, the adverb therefor is only really used in legal English. If you use it in other contexts, it has a very old-fashioned, formal effect. "Therefor" means "for that," "as a result of that," or "in exchange for that," and is not normally used at the beginning of a sentence or clause. It is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable [therefor].
Development interdependence: Locally driven, globally informed
The first essay in this compendium is the essay by Ingram, updated to benefit from the roundtable discussion and subsequent feedback. It includes an addendum highlighting key ideas put forth ...