Finding the right topic is half of your assignment success. In case your instructor didn't give you any topics for a definition essay they've assigned you, we have prepared this humongous definition essay topics list. All suggestions are grouped by college subjects (or more general areas of knowledge). Each topic is linked to a sample from our database to inform your writing and make this assignment more manageable. Dive in!
Philosophy and Religion Definition Essay Ideas
Philosophy is a discipline that started with asking questions about abstract things like life, death, knowledge and being creative with the answers. We suggest you continue this proud tradition by picking a definition essay topic from the list below. However, before you do that, check our post on how to write a definition essay – just to make sure you know what you are doing.
- What is rationalism?
- How John Locke defines good?
- What is enlightenment?
- Socratic definition of justice
- Plato's definition of virtue
- How Aristotle defines humor?
- The definition of justice by sophists
- What is religion?
- What is a true believer?
- What is Catholicism?
- The concept of Trinity in Christianity
- The concept of piety and holiness
- Define 'meaning' as it is understood by Putnam
- What are primary and secondary qualities, according to Locke?
- Define American values
Definition essay topics about humanity
- What is human?
- What does it mean to be human for you?
- How classical Chinese philosophers defined human nature?
- Humanity according to Hinduism and Buddhism
- Philosophical understanding of humanity
- Define personhood from a bioethics perspective
- What is a person?
Social Science and Cultural Studies Definition Essay Topics for College
All positive changes in society have happened because people asked the right questions. How about some right answers? Try to find them with these definitional essay topics.
- Define sociology as a science
- What is stigma?
- What is culture?
- What is culture shock? Have you ever experienced one?
- What is cultural competence?
- What is a stereotype? Illustrate by culture stereotypes Americans and some other nation have about each other
- What is child poverty and its effects on the society?
- What is poverty according to Marxism?
- What is multiculturalism?
- What is nonverbal communication?
- What is workplace bullying?
- What is social structure?
- What is a community?
- How do we define who is American?
- The difference between famine and food insecurity
- What is the meaning of wealth?
- What is religion from the sociological perspective?
- What are social facts?
Definition essay topics about race
- The meaning of race in America
- The definition of race as a social construct
- What does 'white' mean as a race?
- What does it mean to say that race is a property of the social world and not biology?
- Race and racism in American science and medicine
- What is racial profiling?
- What is a hate crime?
- What is workplace diversity?
Family definition essay topics
- How has the concept of family evolved in America?
- Can a traditional family create a gorgeous future?
- Define modern American family
- Family: definition and classification
- What is marriage?
- What is gay marriage?
Gender Studies definition essay topics
- What is femininity, and how does it change in society?
- Define queer theory
- What is the feminist theory?
- What is third-wave feminism?
- What is affirmative action?
- What is rape?
- What is 'battered woman syndrome'?
- What is sexual harassment in the workplace?
Definition essay topics about disability
- Define people with disabilities as a vulnerable population
- Understanding physical impairment
- What are behavioral, emotional, and social difficulties (BESD)?
- What is dyslexia?
Definition essay topics about subcultures
- What does the term 'Outliers' mean?
- What is vegetarianism?
- Who are hipsters?
- What is the Southern lifestyle?
- Who are bronies?
Definition Argument Essay Topics on Politics and Law
When you define anything for legal purposes, you must be accurate and all-encompassing. Creativity gives place to reasoning and impassionate argument. This is probably the most challenging way to define and describe things. That is why before you get to actual legislation, cut your teeth on these topics for definition essay.
- What is justice?
- The legal definition of sexual harassment
- Homicide definitions
- Community standards and legal definition of explicit materials
- The definition of citizen
- What is a crime and its relationship to the law?
- Define material inequality
- Define child labor
- What is trafficking, and why it violates human rights?
- Define voidable marriage
- Prostitution in the USA
- The nature of anarchy
- What is nationalism?
- What is Richard Swift's idea of 'Weak Democracy'?
- What is delegation, and what legal issues are associated with it?
- What is globalization?
- What is a superpower?
- What is hegemony? Is the USA a hegemonic country?
- What is soft law?
Definition topics about security
- What is terrorism?
- Define international terrorism
- What are state and non-state actors in terrorism?
- What is policing in a democratic society?
- What is a global crime?
- What is human security, and why is it important?
- What is privacy?
- Define privacy in the workplace
- What is John Stuart Mill's harm principle?
Extended Definition Essay Topics on History
History is a fascinating discipline and a rich soil for definition essay topics examples. You can give definitions to eras, cultural movements, concepts, art forms, forms of government – anything, as long as it existed sometime in the past. Here are just some suggestions.
- What is Upper Paleolithic?
- Define 'Dark Ages' as a period and as a cultural phenomenon
- Define leadership using any historical figure as an example
- What is Scottish Enlightenment?
- Define Renaissance as a time of encounter and confrontation
- What is the Great Depression, and what caused it?
Definition Paper Topics on Miscellaneous Aspects of Human Experience
Although concepts we suggest defining in this section may seem deceptively easy, they may turn out to be a challenging subject for this type of paper. If your assignment is for writing classes or doesn't have to be tied to a specific discipline, try one of these definition paper ideas.
- What are victory and achievement for you?
- Defining success
- What is job satisfaction?
- What is writing to you?
- The multiple meanings of educational quality
- What is a commitment?
- What is loyalty?
- What is knowledge?
- What is thinking?
- What does ecological integrity mean for you?
- What does perseverance mean for you?
- What is creativity?
- What is plagiarism?
- What is science?
- What is evil?
- What is death, dying, and how people deal with it?
- What is an ethical choice?
Freedom definition essay topics
- Define how you understand liberty
- Liberty as a value
- The definition of freedom
- How Puritan settlers understood freedom?
- What is the meaning of freedom?
Beauty definition essay topics
- Kantian definition of beauty
- What is your personal understanding of beauty?
- Frank Lloyd Wright: Beauty in stone, glass, and wood
- What definitions are given to 'monsters' in literature?
Examples of definition essays on happiness
- What is happiness?
- How do you understand happiness?
- Defining happiness with the help of an interview
- What is happiness from the philosophical perspective?
- What is happiness from a psychological perspective?
Love definition essay topics
- Define love how you understand it
- What is love from a psychological perspective?
- Diotima's definition of love
- Chaucer's perception of love
- How is love defined in poetry? Illustrate using the works of your favorite poet
Respect definition essay topics
- What is self-respect?
- Define respect as one of core Christian values
- On friends and family, love and respect
- How Dr. Eggerichs defines respect in 'The Language of Love and Respect'
Home definition essay topics
- How has the understanding of home changed for you over the years?
- What is home? What makes you feel at home?
- What is homelessness?
Definition Essay Topics on Psychology
Psychology is the objective study of the psyche, which in itself is anything but objective. This contradiction can only be resolved by precisely defining and carefully cataloging every individual phenomenon. How about these, for starters?
- What is Psychology?
- What is personality?
- Define personality in its relation to society
- Exploring the concept of emotional intelligence
- How different schools of thought define brief therapy?
- What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
- What is normal human sexuality?
- Define the concept of paranoia
- What is abnormal behavior?
- Define intelligence using cognitive development theory
- What is repression, and when it happens?
- Emotions and feelings in Antonio Damasios 'Looking for Spinoza'
- What is OCD? Explain Freud's definition
Definition Topics on Art and Design
You would think that art is intuitive and free, but definitions, classification, and systems exist everywhere. That is why even if you plan to create art for the rest of your life, your years in college will be spent writing about what is an art and what is not. Get used to this thought with these topics.
Visual art definition topics
- What is art?
- What is conceptual art?
- What is a picture?
- What is an effective print advertisement?
- Define leadership and communication using an example from a visual media
- What are taste hierarchies and their role in television?
- What are genres in film and TV?
Music definition topics
- What is sound and its role in television?
- What is vocal music?
- What is 'crunk'? Define music genre and its origins
Literature definition topics
- Does Antigone fit the definition of tragedy?
- Define crime and mystery genre using an example from contemporary literature
- What sanity and insanity mean in 'Hamlet'?
- Define the Robinsonade genre through examples
- How is redemption understood in Jeff Henderson's 'Cooked'?
- Define postmodernism using an example from contemporary literature to illustrate the concept
- How Dante defines evil in 'Inferno'?
- Looking for the definition for 'liberal course of study' in Mike Rose's 'Lives on the Boundary'
- What is a paragraph? What types of paragraphs are there?
Business and Economics definition topics
Money makes the world go round. Yet, do you know what money is? Could you give it a clear definition? How about the economy? Capitalism? Taxes? Don't worry. You still have time to learn. Start with these topics.
- What does economics mean for you personally?
- What is capitalism?
- The commodification of subculture
- What is risk coverage?
- What is culture? What is its impact on the context of an international organization?
- What is short-range planning (or operational planning)?
- What is a market economy?
- What is a competitive advantage?
- Define marginal revenue and marginal cost
Marketing definition topics
- How the concept of 'marketing' has evolved, and what it means today?
- What is marketing? Define its role in consumerism
- Define marketing and its main concepts
- What is market segmentation?
- What is Customer Relationship Management
- Define excellent customer service. Illustrate with examples from personal experience
Leadership and management definition topics
- What is organizational culture, and what is the role of leadership in it?
- What is leadership and its role in an organization?
- What is the dark side of leadership?
- Define management and leadership in relation to each other
- What is employee performance appraisal?
- Who is a manager?
- What is moral leadership?
Definition topics about organization and management
- What is entrepreneurial innovation?
- What is corporate social responsibility?
- What is management development?
- What is human resource development?
- What is meant by the term 'talent management'?
- What is project management?
- Organization structure: definition and types
- What is negligence?
Sustainability topics
- What is sustainability in the context of CSR?
- What is ecotourism?
- What is change management and its role in sustainability?
Definition Topics About Nursing and Health Care
When human life and wellbeing depend on you, you must be sure what you are doing. This is why Nursing and Health Care as disciplines favor definition essays almost as much as long-term studies. Here are some suggestions for your paper.
- Explore the meanings and origins of medical terms
- Define euthanasia. How did the term evolve?
- Define key components of the human heart's anatomy
- Define healthcare-related terms that are essential for scholastic and expert achievement
- Define chiropractic osteopathy
- What is robotic surgery?
Nursing as profession definition topics
- Definition of nursing
- Who are nurses as professionals?
- Define 'research' in nursing
- What is palliative care?
- Define nursing through its roles, responsibilities, and values
- Define professional socialization in nursing
- Explain the process of patient examination and diagnosis
Definitions of health
- What is health?
- Explain how you understand health
- What is Health Promotion in nursing?
- What is sexual health?
Definitions of diseases
- Define and describe acute sinusitis
- Define type II diabetes as an emerging disease
- What is HIV/AIDS?
Definition Topics About Technology and Communication
Technology is the domain of precision and unequivocalness. Try to give a clear definition to one of the subjects on this list.
- Definitions and interpretations of testing
- What is ethics in the age of information?
- Define social media
- What is cyberbullying?
- What is cyberterrorism?
- What is technical writing?
- Definition of the word 'hack'
- What is media ethics?
- What is the collaborative intelligence layer?
- What is a software as a service?
- What is VCR?
- What is Windows SharePoint service?
- What is PlayStation? What is the source of its success?
- What is a database?
Didn't find what you were looking for? Try searching our sample database using keywords or use a topic generator to find the perfect subject for your definition essay. Not sure what you want to write about? You can order a unique definition essay sample leaving the topic at your writer's discretion!
