AUDIENCE: Average adult Americans reading a major city newspaper. (Think Sun Times or Chicago Tribune) FORMAT: Standard essay format, preset margins, 12 point font, standard American grammar, MLA Documentation A definition essay is not a dictionary definition of a word – it is your explanation of a concept or an abstract idea. In fact, you CANNOT USE a dictionary at all for this assignment. You can explain your understanding of the term through many of the previous styles of essays that we have used in the past: illustrative, classification, process analysis, narrative, description, compare & contrast – you choose your method. FreedomFamilyResponsibilityHome