The focus of this paper is on terminological definitions. The first part deals with
their role in terminology and examines some basic issues for their creation and
selection. Among these are the distinction between concept and meaning in
LSP, the preferente given to analytical definitions, the importance of some
recent developments in the theories of prototypes and fuzzy edges and the
opposition langue vs. parole in terminology. The second part of the article
considers definitions from the viewpoint of a specific recipient, namely the
technical translator's. The paper proposes a partial typology of the functions of
definitions in technical and scientific translation. According to this hypothesis,
definitions are used mainly for identifying terms, checking conceptual
equivalence, filling terminological gaps, comprehending the source text and as a
source of lexical-stylistic information for the production of the target text.
