GUIDE IN WRITING DEFINITION ESSAY
Title
Introduction
 Hook / Attention-catcher
 Briefly tell about the
term you are going to
talk about
 Thesis statement
Body
 Body paragraph 1:
History and Origin of the
Word.
 Body paragraph 2:
Complete dictionary
explanation and use of
the Word.
 Body paragraph 3:
Personal definition
created from your
experience.
Conclusion
 Summarize the main key
pieces of evidence
 Restate the thesis
statement in different
words
Love
What is love? This is the question that has boggled the minds of philosophers,
theologians, scientists, and many more types of people—including the everyday man or
woman. Why is this question so difficult to answer? Well, not only are there so many
different types of love, defining love is notoriously complex.
This essay will focus first on a universal definition of love, and then spread out into
the variety of facets this phenomenon entails.
The word “love” has gone through various dictionary definitions throughout the
eons. According to the Harvard Crimson, “The roots of the word “love” can be traced
back to the Indo-European root leubh, meaning “to care” or “to desire,” approximated
from words including the Latin lubet, “it pleases” and the Sanskrit lubhyati, “he
desires.” Along with “love,” related English words like “libido” and “belief” also
descend from *lebuh.
According to The Bloomsbury Dictionary of Words, while the word “love” initially
meant “find pleasing,” it later took on associations with “praise,” “trust” and “belief”’
(Cocola, Jim). This follows a common pattern in romantic relationships that begins with
pleasure, progresses to admiration, and finally becomes about trust. We can look at
history to see that humanity has considered love to be, in essence, a variety of virtues
and feelings. To say one sentence about love is seemingly impossible. That is why is
important to differentiate between the types of love we humans experience.
What constitutes “pure love” is highly debatable. Religious or spiritual people will
say “pure love” is that love which is divinely inspired or related to the divine. Other
people will say friendship is the truest love of all. While others will say unconditional
love is the only pure form of love. There is no consensus on what constitutes “pure
love,” however there are similarities between the definitions. Most ideas about what
“pure love” is circles around the concept of something transcendent. This variety of
love is commonly above attachment, hate, codependency, and other forms of
limitations.
Perhaps the most famous depictions of love in the western world are discussed by
Plato, Aristotle, and other historical sources. We can say there are seven flavors of love:
romantic love, friendship, familial love, universal love, uncommitted love, practical love,
and self-love.
All of these types of loves intermix in our lives. It is difficult to find someone who
does not have all these flavors of love present in his or her experience of reality.
However, it is up to us to determine the most significant type of love and to search for
it. Commonly, figuring out what this most important flavor of love is will indicate what
we need to do with our lives, how we need to act, and how we want to construct our
family and work lives. Therefore, knowing what love is to you is not only a philosophical
pursuit but also a practical one.