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DEFINITION BY ENUMERATION is simply the process of listing, i.e. enumerating, the individual members of the general class represented by the TERM.

This method of definition cannot be applied to explaining all terms. However, enumeration is particularly useful in defining terms which refer to objects that have parts, and to terms which describe a general class.

Very often, the enumeration method of definition is used in conjunction with classification.

EXAMPLE:

A barbershop quartet is a singing group which blends four voices: bass, baritone, tenor I and tenor II.

EXAMPLE:

In competitive swimming, a medley is an event during which each contestant swims four different strokes: the breast stroke, back-stroke, butterfly and freestyle.

EXAMPLE:

In theology, the Trinity is the union of three divine figures: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Note that enumeration is used, in the above examples, to explain more precisely a term which is first defined by classification.

EXAMPLE:

The pentathlon is an athletic contest consisting of five events: running, horseback riding, swimming, fencing and pistol shooting.

In this example, the enumeration is part of the differentiating element in a formal definition.

EXAMPLE:

The trivium was the lower division of the seven liberal arts in the medieval school curriculum and consisted of grammar, logic and rhetoric.

Sometimes a class is so large that enumerating all of its members is either impractical or undesirable. In such circumstances, it is often possible for you to enumerate enough members of the class so that the meaning of the TERM representing it becomes clear. Thus, it very closely resembles that general method of development known as EXAMPLES.

EXAMPLE:

A decapod is a crustacean such as a crab, lobster or shrimp having five pairs of locomotive appendages, each joined to a segment of the thorax.

EXAMPLE:

A melon is a large, juicy fruit such as a muskmelon, cantaloupe, Persian melon, honeydew or watermelon.

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