在学术写作中，同学们往往会需要给一些名词或词组下定义或者作解释，以向读者阐明一些特殊词汇的具体含义。接下来就看看具体的例句分析吧！

介绍性句子：

重点词句：

clarify阐明

uncertainty不确定性

explicit明确的（不要再用clear啦！~）

It is necessary here to clarify exactly what is meant by …
There is a degree of uncertainty around the terminology in …
This shows a need to be explicit about exactly what is meant by the word X.
X is a term frequently used in the literature, but to date there is no consensus about

用上这些句式立马就高大上了有木有？

常见的解释说明例句：

重点词句：

refer to意思为

encompass包含（代替include！）

be equated with等同于

The term X refers to …
The term X encompasses A, B, and C.
X can be defined as … It encompasses …
X can be loosely described as a correlation.
The broad use of the term X is sometimes equated with …
The term X is a relatively new name for a Y, commonly referred to…
In broad biological terms, X can be defined as any stimulus that is …
Defined as XYZ, obesity is now considered a worldwide epidemic and is associated with …

介绍要定义某个对象的困难性：

重点词句：

embody包含

various许多的（a lot of 什么的简直弱爆了）

A generally accepted definition of X is lacking.
The term X embodies a multitude of concepts which …
A further definition is given by Smith (1982) who describes …
In the field of language teaching, various definitions of X are found.
Smith (2001) identified four abilities that might be subsumed under the term X: a) …
Although differences of opinion still exist, there appears to be some agreement that X refers to …
X is a commonly-used notion in language learning and yet it is a concept difficult to define precisely.

解释某一对象在文章中的特定用法或含义：

重点词句：

in its broadest sense通常 （别用in general啦）

interchangeably 可替换的

The term X will be used solely when referring to …
In the present report, X was therefore defined in terms of …
In this essay, the term X will be used in its broadest sense to refer to all …
In this paper, the term that will be used to describe this phenomenon is X.
In this dissertation, the terms X and Y are used interchangeably to mean …
Throughout this thesis, the term education is used to refer to informal systems as well as …
While a variety of definitions of the term X have been suggested, this paper will use the definition first suggested by Smith (1968) who saw it as …

引用他人的定义或结论：

注意以下介词的运用哦！

For Smith (2001), fluency means to …
Smith (2001) uses the term ‘fluency’ to refer to …
Smith (1954) was apparently the first to use the term …
The term ‘fluency’ is used by Smith (2001) to refer to …
Macro-stabilisation policy is defined by Smith (2003: 119) as ‘… …’
This definition is close to those of Smith (2012) and Jones (2013) who define X as …
Smith, has shown that, as late as 1920, Jones was using the term ‘X’ to refer to particular …
The term ‘matter’ is used by Aristotle in four overlapping senses. First, it is the underlying … Secondly, it is the potential which …
Smith et al. (2002) have provided a new definition of health: ‘health is a state of being with physical, cultural, psychological …’

评价一个定义：

This definition includes allows for /highlights the /helps distinguish /takes into account /poses a problem for /will continue to evolve/can vary depending on /was agreed upon after /has been broadened to include …

The following definition is intended to /modelled on /too simplistic/useful because /problematic as /inadequate since /in need of revision since /important for what it excludes/the most precise produced so far.