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the def.art.
1.Used before singular or plural nouns and noun phrases that denote particular, specified persons or things.
2.Used before a noun, and generally stressed, to emphasize one of a group or type as the most outstanding or prominent.
3.Used to indicate uniqueness:.
4.Used before nouns that designate natural phenomena or points of the compass.
5.Used as the equivalent of a possessive adjective before names of some parts of the body.
6.Used before a noun specifying a field of endeavor: the law; the film industry.
7.Used before a proper name, as of a monument or ship.
8.Used before the plural form of a numeral denoting a specific decade of a century or of a life span.
9.Used before a singular noun indicating that the noun is generic.
10.Used before an adjective extending it to signify a class and giving it the function of a noun.
11.Used before an absolute adjective.
12.Used before a present participle, signifying the action in the abstract.