extended definition essay on success

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Extended Definition: Success

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Defining success through achieving goals, success as personal fulfillment, success as making a positive impact on others, the narrow definition of success.

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Extended Definition: Success

Society often defines success as attaining wealth, power, and status. The dictionary defines it as the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted (Grouden & Jose, 2015). However, I believe that success is much more than just material gain or the attainment of a set goal. Success is the ongoing process of becoming the best version of oneself and making a positive impact on the world.

The path to success is more important than arriving at the finish line. It is the accumulation of seemingly little day-to-day activities that ultimately result in personal development and advancement. It is not just about establishing and accomplishing goals but also about gaining knowledge and developing as a result of the trip itself. It is not enough to just amass a particular amount of money or get a certain amount of notoriety; rather, one must strive to develop into a complete version of themselves, both in their personal and professional life.

The road to success is one that must be travelled slowly and with complete commitment. It is the accumulation of seemingly little day-to-day activities that ultimately result in personal development and advancement. The journey to obtaining success is not only about accumulating a particular amount of income or gaining a certain amount of notoriety; rather, it is about developing oneself to become an ideal version of oneself, both personally and professionally. This not only involves planning and attaining objectives but also gaining knowledge and developing oneself as a result of the journey itself.

For example, an individual who is working towards becoming a successful entrepreneur may set a goal to start and grow their own business. Along the way, they may face obstacles such as lack of funding or difficulty finding the right team members. However, instead of giving up, they learn from these experiences and use them to make adjustments to their business plan and strategies. They also grow as a person by learning how to handle stress, make difficult decisions, and build resilience.

Another example could be an individual who is working towards becoming a successful athlete. They may set a goal to win a specific competition or achieve a certain level of performance. Along the way, they may experience injuries or setbacks in training. But, instead of giving up, they learn from these experiences and use them to make adjustments to their training plan. They also grow as a person by learning how to handle adversity, set priorities and maintain discipline.

In both examples, achieving the set goal is important, but it is not the only measure of success. The journey itself, and the personal growth and self-improvement that come with it, are just as important. It is about becoming the best version of oneself, both personally and professionally. Success is not a destination but a continuous journey of self-discovery and self-improvement.

The first step in achieving success is setting a clear and achievable goal. This goal should align with one’s values and passions and should be something that truly motivates and inspires the individual. The process of achieving this goal should be challenging but also rewarding and fulfilling (Grouden & Jose, 2015). Along the way, one should also be open to learning and growing, as well as making adjustments to the goal as necessary.

The second step in achieving success is taking action. This means putting in the hard work and effort to achieve the goal and being willing to take risks and make sacrifices. It also means being resilient in the face of obstacles and setbacks and not giving up when things get tough. It is about having the drive, determination, and persistence to see things through to the end.

The third step in achieving success is making a positive impact on the world. This means using one’s skills, talents, and resources to help others and make a difference in the world. It is about being a responsible and ethical member of society and using one’s success to make a positive impact on others. This step is not only important for the people and causes one is helping, but it also brings a sense of fulfilment and purpose to one’s own life.

One example of this is the case of Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft. He is known not only for his success in the technology industry but also for his philanthropic work. He and his wife, Melinda Gates, established the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims to improve healthcare and reduce poverty worldwide. Through the foundation, they have donated billions of dollars to various causes and have made a significant positive impact on the lives of many people (Gates, 2019).

In conclusion, success is not just about achieving wealth, power, or fame. It is an ongoing process of personal growth and self-improvement, and it is about making a positive impact on the world. Making a positive impact on the world is an important aspect of achieving success. It means using one’s skills, talents, and resources to help others and make a difference in the world. It is about being a responsible and ethical member of society and using one’s success to make a positive impact on others. It is about setting and achieving goals, taking action, and using one’s skills and resources to help others. Success is a journey, not a destination, and it is something that we can all strive for in our own unique ways.

Gates, B. (2019). Bill Gates: The Best Investment I’ve Ever Made. The Wall Street Journal, 16.

Grouden, M. E., & Jose, P. E. (2015). Do sources of meaning differentially predict search for meaning, presence of meaning, and wellbeing. International journal of wellbeing, 5(1).

PART 2: Questions

• What is the significance of your essay? Why should readers care about what you have written? (2-3 sentences) Sophia says: Think about why you decided to analyze this particular image, or why you picked the word you chose to define. Your interest in in your subject matter should be clear to readers.

I feel this essay will be of interest to readers since it provides a new, more comprehensive definition of success. This definition of success emphasizes personal growth and having a beneficial effect on the world, rather than merely money gain or the achievement of a predetermined objective. It invites readers to look beyond conventional cultural conceptions of success and to pursue something more meaningful and satisfying. In addition, readers may relate to the provided instances and contemplate how they might apply the essay’s themes to their own life.

• Which areas of your draft do you think will benefit most from revision? (2-3 sentences) Sophia says: Consider the organization, style, focus, development, and conventions of your draft. Which areas did you struggle to complete?

The examples and explanations used to support my definition of success are the sections of my draft that I feel might benefit most from improvement. I am uncertain as to whether the provided examples are sufficiently clear and successfully show my idea. I also believe that the explanations may be refined and broadened to give more persuasive and specific evidence for my concept. In addition, I should examine the order of my copy and ensure that my thoughts are logically connected and flow together to form a coherent piece of writing.

• Consider the strengths and weaknesses of your writing. How can you capitalize on your strengths and improve on your weaknesses in future essays? (3-4 sentences) Sophia says: Think about what was easy about writing the draft, and what was more difficult. For example, if you write paragraphs with strong topic sentences, but repeatedly use the same type of sentence to provide supporting details, you can improve your paragraphs by varying sentence structure.

I find it rather simple to compose an essay. I consider my primary ideas and create a paragraph for each of them. I aim to make the introduction engaging and conclude by summarizing my main points. My weakness, I believe, is that I’d like to be done with my first draft, but I’m usually not.

The ability to revise and produce several drafts is what transforms an adequate piece of writing into a solid piece of academic writing. For future essays, I will keep this in mind and keep in mind that what I produce the first time does not have to be flawless, and that via revision and editing, I can polish my work and communicate what I want in the most efficient manner.

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UMGC Effective Writing Center How to Write an Extended Definition

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• Writing Resources

Usually when you hear the word "definition" you think of a dictionary or encyclopedia. For example, a juvenile delinquent is an underage person convicted of crime or antisocial behavior. Likewise, a venture capitalist is a person who provides money for innovative projects.

Perhaps you have written a narrative essay about a personal experience in which you are called upon to classify and to analyze causes and effects. All of these patterns and more can be used in your paragraphs to clarify and extend the term you have chosen.

Example: Single Pattern

Sometimes a single pattern will be sufficient to extend the definition to achieve the effect you want for your audience. For example, let's say in an introductory sociology course, you are introducing the term "juvenile delinquent" to the class. You could use the "classify" pattern to clarify how broadly the term in used in this field:

• Term: juvenile delinquent
• Standard definition: an underage person who has committed a crime.
• Pattern: Classify
• Overall Point: To understand "juvenile delinquent" in this field, it's necessary to know the major types of delinquents.
• The first type of delinquent is . . .
• The second type of delinquent is . . .
• The third type of delinquent is . . .

Example: Multi Pattern

Depending on the term, you may find that using several patterns is the best way to help shape your audience's understanding of a term. For example, let's consider the innocent sounding term "arbitration." Maybe you wish to make the point that sometimes legal terms are used to desensitize us from what is really taking place. Consider this example:

• Term: Arbitration
• Standard definition: legal process of resolving a dispute
• Classify Pattern--list and define types of arbitration, including "forced arbitration"
• Narration Pattern--The FAIR Act seeks to end the use of forced arbitration by U.S. employers
• Cause/Effect pattern: Multiple examples of the victims of forced arbitration have pressured Congress to act through legislation

Your task in writing an extended definition is to add to the standard/notional definition in a way that will allow your audience to gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the term in a particular context. Whether you do this by adding facts, telling what a term does not include, or applying any of the many development patterns (classify, illustrate, cause/effect, compare/contrast, narration, description), matters not. Only the development of clear understanding between you and your audience should be the ultimate goal.

Video Tutorial: Writing the Extended Definition Essay

Follow along with UMGC's Effective Writing Center as they walk through the Extended Definition Essay.

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60 Writing Topics for Extended Definitions

These essays go beyond dictionary entries using analysis and examples

• Writing Essays
• Writing Research Papers
• English Grammar
• 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

Simply put, a definition is a statement of the meaning of a word or phrase. An extended definition goes beyond what can be found in a dictionary, offering an expanded analysis and illustration of a concept that might be abstract, controversial, unfamiliar, or frequently misunderstood. Take, for example, writings such as William James' "Pragmatic Theory of Truth" or John Berger's " The Meaning of Home ."

Approaching the Abstract

Abstract concepts, including many of the broad terms in the list that follows, need to be "brought to earth" with an example to relate what they mean to your reader and to get your point or opinion across. You could illustrate the concepts with anecdotes from your personal life or examples from the news or current events, or write an opinion piece. There's no single method for developing and organizing a paragraph or essay by extended definition. The 60 concepts listed here can be defined in various ways and from different points of view.

Brainstorming and Prewriting

Start with brainstorming your topic . If you work well with lists, write the word at the top of the paper and fill the rest of the page with all the things that the word makes you think of, feel, see, or even smell, without stopping. It's OK to go off on tangents, as you might find a surprising connection that could make a powerful, insightful, or even humorous essay. Alternatively, brainstorm by writing the word in the middle of your paper and connect other related words to it and each other.

As you develop your angle, think about the concept's background, features, characteristics, and parts. What is the concept's opposite? What are its effects on you or others? Something in your list or word map will spark a writing idea or theme to use to illustrate the abstract concept, and then it's off to the races. If you run into a dead end the first time, go back to your list and pick another idea. It's possible that your first draft turns out to be prewriting and leads to a better idea that can be developed further and can possibly even incorporate the prewriting exercise. Time spent writing is time spent exploring and is never wasted, as sometimes it takes a bit of pursuit to discover the perfect idea.

If seeing examples will help spark your essay, take a look at "Gifts," by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Gore Vidal's "Definition of Prettiness," or "A Definition of Pantomime," by Julian Barnes.

60 Topic Suggestions

Looking for a place to start? Here are 60 words and phrases so broad that writings on them could be infinite:

• Sportsmanship
• Self-assurance
• Sensitivity
• Peace of mind
• Right to privacy
• Common sense
• Team player
• Healthy appetite
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• Conservative
• A good (or bad) teacher or professor
• Physical fitness
• A happy marriage
• True friendship
• Citizenship
• A good (or bad) coach
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• A good (or bad) roommate
• Political correctness
• Peer pressure
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• Responsibility
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• A good (or bad) boss
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C H A E Y O U N G ㅣ B L O G

Extended definition of “success”.

By Chaeyoung Park , February 6, 2015

The standard of success differs from individual to individual. How people define the word “success” differs as well. The number of definitions of success cannot be counted. One of the formal definitions of this word is “the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors”. It is because what people obtain at the end cannot be all the same. Therefore, what I think about the word success can be the same, similar, or completely different. All people pursue living a happy life, thus want to be successful. Success comes before happiness. Success requires a lot of efforts and real good friends to share happiness during the process of living successful life and at the end as well.

Putting efforts is crucial to succeed. Success is that we obtain the things that we do not possess now after putting efforts. Whether you are a student or a worker, you must make a lot of efforts to earn money. If you are happy with money you earned, that is success. There is a man who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He is rich. But that is not success. However, if a man works hard and be rich as he wanted, that is success. If you are a student who does not know anything about what he is learning, but tries to learn hard and gets into a good school, that is success. Success comes after you make a lot of efforts, and this leads you to have a happy life. Success is not determined by what you already have or what you are. It is a process that is important. Although some mistakes can be made, it is still success when you complete the journey until you see what you wanted to achieve. If you do not take steps and get something easily, that is not success.

Success is that good friends are always being next to me forever no matter what, both during and after the process of being successful. If you have friends that are not real, you will be alone at the end, and that life cannot be seen as a happy or successful life. People will become members of society after they graduate schools, and work to earn money. Money will come at the end, but if there is no real friend while you are working to make money, you will be living a lonely social life and that cannot be a happy and successful social life. Success is that you work hard with good real friends next to you, and live happy social life with them and share happiness with them. You and your friends have to put efforts to be a good real friend to each other, and you all will be good friends. That is success and that becomes happiness. When people who have good real friends say, “I have these good friends because I am lucky”, I think this is not true. Because you did your best to be a good friend for them, you deserve it. Because you put efforts to make good friends and be a good friend, you are happy at the end and that can be called a successful life.

Without efforts, no matter what you do, that cannot be called as success. You need to go through obstacle courses to get to the point of goal. But if you approached to the finishing tape without putting any effort, that is not success. If you achieve something with what you already had, that is not success. Success is that you achieve a great dream with what you have never possessed. The important thing is process. To obtain what you want at the end, process is really significant. If there is no process, the result is not happiness or success. That would be just possessing something. It is important that you make a lot of efforts to be happy, and there are good real friends next to you during that process of living a successful life, which leads to happiness at the end.

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Common Writing Assignments

9 The Extended Definition Essay

The extended definition essay presents a detailed account of a single term or concept that is central to the content of the course for which the essay is written. What is cryptocurrency? What is a black hole? What is an algorithm? What is symbolism? What is deoxyribonucleic acid? What is National Socialism? Every subject has its own special vocabulary, and teachers will often assign an essay requiring students to present a detailed definition of a key term.

Read carefully this extended definition of feminism.

Example: On Feminism

The word “feminism” describes a popular movement for social justice, based on the premise that women have been and continue to be systemically oppressed by men who do not want to share the greater social, political, and economic power they have historically possessed. But the definition of feminism extends beyond raising the status of one gender; feminism recognizes that equal standards for all people regardless of gender will benefit society as a whole (Montgomery). In this respect, feminism can be interpreted as synonymous with egalitarianism.

Feminist scholars divide the movement into three phases or “Waves.”  First-wave feminism emerged in the early twentieth century in the form of a fight for the rights to vote, to own property, and to qualify for work in fields historically reserved for men. Second-wave feminism emerged in the 1960s as baby boomers entered university and demanded admission to programs that traditionally favoured men, such as engineering, medicine, and forestry, as well as “equal pay for work of equal value” (Montgomery).  Third-wave or post-feminism is the movement’s twenty-first century incarnation, devoted essentially to ending all forms of gender discrimination. Some even argue that a fourth wave has recently emerged, one that is concerned with the portrayal of women in social media.

While there is no clear consensus as to when first-wave feminism began, most accept that it emerged as industrialization progressed in the nineteenth century. Martha Lear coined the term in 1968, though the first wave focused on what we now consider basic issues of inequality (“What Was”). One of the earliest feminists was Mary Wollstonecraft, who mostly wrote in the late eighteenth century advocating that societies, and individuals specifically, should have rights that the state provides. Most other philosophers and writers of the time ignored women and Wollstonecraft was among the first to call for gender equality. After the American Civil War, Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Anthony rallied support for what they saw as one of the first great obstacles to greater freedom: the right to vote. Others, such as Barbara Leigh Smith, saw employment and education for women as critical areas to focus on.

Throughout the nineteenth century, Biblical interpretation of women’s role in the house and family prevented their ability to advance feminist ideals. To counteract the power of the church’s sex-based hierarchy, Stanton produced an influential work called The Woman’s Bible , in which she argued for equality using biblical references. This helped to provide religious justification, at least for some, for emerging feminism in the period. Furthermore, the National Woman Suffrage Association became a prominent organization, and in 1869, John Allen Campbell, the governor of Wyoming, became the first governor to grant women the right to vote (“What Was”). And when women replaced men in factories during the First World War, many realized that women did have equal skills to men. In Canada, women won the right to vote in most provinces during the war. In 1921, Agnes Macphail became the first woman in Canada elected to Parliament.

In the US, women had to wait a bit longer. Feminist organizations lobbied indefatigably and eventually convinced Congress that women should have the right to vote. Finally, in 1920, women won the right to vote across the United States. While the process itself was contentious, featuring hunger strikes and even mob violence, the gradual acceptance of women as voters can be considered the culminating success of first-wave feminism.

“The Progressive Era” took place in the 1930s; women’s social and political activism grew, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt advocated for the appointment of women to positions within the administration. Her cause was further advanced during the Second World War when, again, women had to take over the work enlisted men were forced to abandon. After the war, however, North America saw a new emphasis on domesticity. When the soldiers returned, women were almost uniformly fired and forced back into their duties of domestic chores and child-raising (Bisignani). Second-wave feminism was a reaction to this post-war obsession with the ideal of the contented housewife and suburban domesticity, a lifestyle that often isolated women and severely limited their choices and opportunities.

Feminism’s second wave truly began in the early 1960s and focused not just on legal barriers to civil equality but also examined social inequalities. Second-wave feminists sought to change discriminatory policies on sexuality and sexual identity; marriage and child-rearing; workplace environment; reproductive rights; and violence against women. They formed local, regional, and federal government groups on behalf of women, resulting in human rights and women’s equality becoming a growing part of the North American political agenda. Finally, they created new, more positive images of women in both pop culture and the media to fight the negative stereotypes commonly in circulation, primarily that of the “happy housewife.”

The second wave of feminism included many landmark moments. In the 1960s, many government health agencies approved the oral contraceptive pill, and in 1963, the Equal Pay Act was passed in the US. In 1968, Coretta Scott King assumed leadership of the African-American civil rights movement and expanded the platform to include women’s rights. This led to Shirley Chisholm becoming the first African-American woman elected to Congress. In 1972, the passage of Title IX ensured equal funding for women’s opportunities in education, and the first women’s studies program in the US opened at San Diego State University. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the second wave came in 1973, when the Roe v. Wade case resulted in women’s access to safe and legal abortion (Bisignani).

Third-wave feminism began in the 1990s and still exists today (Demarco). There are many different outlets and angles of feminism now, but the most important values of the third wave include gender equality, identity, language, sex positivity, breaking the glass ceiling, body positivity, ending violence against women, fixing the media’s image of women, and environmentalism.

Third-wave feminists assert that there is no universal identity for women; women come from every religion, nationality, culture, and sexual preference. Different forms of media such as fashion magazines, newspapers, and television favour white, young, slender women, a fact which negatively impacts all women and results in body anxiety. To combat this anxiety, modern feminists have fought for body positivity, quashing the opinions of those who believe that overweight people are lazy and unhealthy. Feminists want society’s view of women to expand, to recognize, for example, that it is possible to be beautiful enough to be a model, but also smart enough to be an astronaut or a CEO.  But considering that, in 2017, only 18 out of 500 Fortune CEOs and 22 out of 197 global heads of state were women, it is clear that third-wave feminism has not yet removed the glass ceiling (Demarco).

The emerging fourth wavers speak in terms of “intersectionality,” whereby women’s oppression can only fully be understood in the context of marginalization of other groups, who are victims of racism, ageism, classism, and homophobia (Demarco). Among the third wave’s bequests is the importance of inclusion; in the fourth wave, the internet takes inclusion further by levelling hierarchies. The appeal of the fourth wave is that there is a place in it for everyone. The academic and theoretical apparatus are now well-honed and ready to support new broad-based activism in the home, in the workplace, on the streets, and online.

No one is sure how feminism will progress from here. The movement has always included many political, social and intellectual ideologies, each with its own tensions, points and counterpoints. But the fact that each wave has been chaotic, multi-valanced, and disconcerted is cause for optimism; it is a sign that the movement continues to thrive.

Works Cited

Bisignani, Dana. “ Feminism’s Second Wave .” The Gender Press , 27 Jan. 2015, https://genderpressing.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/feminisms-second-wave-2/. Accessed 25 March 2019.

Demarco, April. “ What Is Third Wave Feminist Movement? ” Viva Media , 17 March 2018, https://viva.media/what-is-third-wave-feminist-movement.  Accessed 26 March 2019.

Montgomery, Landon. “ The True Definition Of Feminism .” The Odyssey , 8 March 2016, https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-true-definition-of-feminism. Accessed 27 March 2019.

“ What Was the First Wave Feminist Movement? ” Daily History , 19 Jan. 2019, https://dailyhistory.org/What_was_the_First_Wave_Feminist_Movement%3F. Accessed 28 March 2019.

On Feminism

Study Questions

Respond to these questions in writing, in small group discussion, or both.

• “On Feminism” is an extended definition essay, but it has qualities of what other rhetorical modes explained in this chapter?
• What are the main differences between first- and second-wave feminism?
• What are the main differences between third- and fourth-wave feminism?
• Respond to the conclusions the author offers in her final paragraph. Do you agree with what she writes?
• In academic writing assignments, paragraphs should be unified, coherent, and well-developed. Analyze two body paragraphs from this essay, commenting on the qualities of effective paragraphs they illustrate.

Writing Assignment

Write an extended definition of approximately 750 words on one of the following terms: Marxism, irony (in literature), recession (in economics), pentathlon (as Olympic sport), dressage, algorithm, neutral zone trap, cryptocurrency. You may also select your own topic or one provided by your teacher.

Composition and Literature Copyright © 2019 by James Sexton and Derek Soles is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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