Skilgreinda

Skilgreinda is the present participle form of the Icelandic verb skilgreina, which means to define. In Icelandic grammar, skilgreinda functions as a verbal adjective or participle, describing an ongoing action related to defining or something that defines. It can be used in contexts where definitions, definitional statements, or the act of defining are being discussed.

As a participle, skilgreinda inflects for gender, number, and case to agree with the noun it modifies or the syntactic role it occupies in a sentence. In general usage, participles of this type attach to nouns to form descriptive phrases, and they can appear in various grammatical positions, including attributive before a noun or in certain predicate constructions within a clause.

The term arises from the stem skilgreina and is part of Icelandic’s broader system of participles that express aspects of action and description. It is most commonly encountered in linguistic, scholarly, or dictionary-related writing where discussions about definitions, definitional criteria, or definitional processes are appropriate. Outside of specialized contexts, the base verb skilgreina is more frequently used than its participial forms in everyday Icelandic.

See also: skilgreining (definition), skilgreina (to define), present participles in Icelandic grammar.