DefinedTerm - Schema.org Type
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DefinedTerm
A Schema.org Type
This term is in the "new" area - implementation feedback and adoption from applications and websites can help improve our definitions.
Thing
Intangible
DefinedTerm
[more...]
Canonical URL: https://schema.org/DefinedTerm
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A word, name, acronym, phrase, etc. with a formal definition. Often used in the context of category or subject classification, glossaries or dictionaries, product or creative work types, etc. Use the name property for the term being defined, use termCode if the term has an alpha-numeric code allocated, use description to provide the definition of the term. Use the about property to specify what the term is about.
Property
Expected Type
Description
Properties from
DefinedTerm
about
Thing
The subject matter of an object.
Inverse property:
subjectOf
inDefinedTermSet
DefinedTermSet
or
URL
DefinedTermSet
that contains this term.
termCode
Text
A code that identifies this
DefinedTerm
within a
DefinedTermSet
Properties from
Thing
additionalType
Text
or
URL
An additional type for the item, typically used for adding more specific types from external vocabularies in microdata syntax. This is a relationship between something and a class that the thing is in. Typically the value is a URI-identified RDF class, and in this case corresponds to the
use of rdf:type in RDF. Text values can be used sparingly, for cases where useful information can be added without their being an appropriate schema to reference. In the case of text values, the class label should follow the schema.org
style guide
alternateName
Text
An alias for the item.
description
Text
or
TextObject
A description of the item.
disambiguatingDescription
Text
A sub property of description. A short description of the item used to disambiguate from other, similar items. Information from other properties (in particular, name) may be necessary for the description to be useful for disambiguation.
identifier
PropertyValue
or
Text
or
URL
The identifier property represents any kind of identifier for any kind of
Thing
, such as ISBNs, GTIN codes, UUIDs etc. Schema.org provides dedicated properties for representing many of these, either as textual strings or as URL (URI) links. See
background notes
for more details.
image
ImageObject
or
URL
An image of the item. This can be a
URL
or a fully described
ImageObject
mainEntityOfPage
CreativeWork
or
URL
Indicates a page (or other CreativeWork) for which this thing is the main entity being described. See
background notes
for details.
Inverse property:
mainEntity
name
Text
The name of the item.
owner
Organization
or
Person
A person or organization who owns this Thing.
Inverse property:
owns
potentialAction
Action
Indicates a potential Action, which describes an idealized action in which this thing would play an 'object' role.
sameAs
URL
URL of a reference Web page that unambiguously indicates the item's identity. E.g. the URL of the item's Wikipedia page, Wikidata entry, or official website.
subjectOf
CreativeWork
or
Event
A CreativeWork or Event about this Thing.
Inverse property:
about
url
URL
URL of the item.
Instances of
DefinedTerm
may appear as a value for the following properties
Property
On Types
Description
assesses
CreativeWork
or
EducationEvent
or
LearningResource
The item being described is intended to assess the competency or learning outcome defined by the referenced term.
biologicalRole
BioChemEntity
A role played by the BioChemEntity within a biological context.
certificationIdentification
Certification
Identifier of a certification instance (as registered with an independent certification body). Typically this identifier can be used to consult and verify the certification instance. See also
gs1:certificationIdentification
chemicalRole
ChemicalSubstance
or
MolecularEntity
A role played by the BioChemEntity within a chemical context.
competencyRequired
EducationalOccupationalCredential
or
LearningResource
Knowledge, skill, ability or personal attribute that must be demonstrated by a person or other entity in order to do something such as earn an Educational Occupational Credential or understand a LearningResource.
creativeWorkStatus
CreativeWork
The status of a creative work in terms of its stage in a lifecycle. Example terms include Incomplete, Draft, Published, Obsolete. Some organizations define a set of terms for the stages of their publication lifecycle.
credentialCategory
Credential
The category or type of credential being described, for example "degree”, “certificate”, “badge”, or more specific term.
educationalLevel
CreativeWork
or
EducationEvent
or
EducationalOccupationalCredential
or
LearningResource
The level in terms of progression through an educational or training context. Examples of educational levels include 'beginner', 'intermediate' or 'advanced', and formal sets of level indicators.
educationalUse
CreativeWork
or
LearningResource
The purpose of a work in the context of education; for example, 'assignment', 'group work'.
errorCode
Error
Application or platform dependant error code.
expressedIn
Gene
Tissue, organ, biological sample, etc in which activity of this gene has been observed experimentally. For example brain, digestive system.
financialAidEligible
Course
or
EducationalOccupationalProgram
A financial aid type or program which students may use to pay for tuition or fees associated with the program.
genre
BroadcastChannel
or
CreativeWork
or
MusicGroup
Genre of the creative work, broadcast channel or group.
hasDefinedTerm
DefinedTermSet
or
Taxon
A Defined Term contained in this term set.
hasMolecularFunction
BioChemEntity
Molecular function performed by this BioChemEntity; please use PropertyValue if you want to include any evidence.
incentivizedItem
FinancialIncentive
The type or specific product(s) and/or service(s) being incentivized.
DefinedTermSets are used for product and service categories such as the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code:
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://www.unspsc.org/",
"termCode": "261315XX",
"name": "Photovoltaic module"
For a specific product or service, use the Product type:
"@type": "Product",
"name": "Kenmore White 17" Microwave",
For multiple different incentivized items, use multiple
DefinedTerm
or
Product
industry
JobPosting
The industry associated with the job position.
isInvolvedInBiologicalProcess
BioChemEntity
Biological process this BioChemEntity is involved in; please use PropertyValue if you want to include any evidence.
isLocatedInSubcellularLocation
BioChemEntity
Subcellular location where this BioChemEntity is located; please use PropertyValue if you want to include any evidence.
jobTitle
Person
The job title of the person (for example, Financial Manager).
keywords
CreativeWork
or
Event
or
Organization
or
Place
or
Product
Keywords or tags used to describe some item. Multiple textual entries in a keywords list are typically delimited by commas, or by repeating the property.
learningResourceType
CreativeWork
or
LearningResource
The predominant type or kind characterizing the learning resource. For example, 'presentation', 'handout'.
measurementMethod
DataCatalog
or
DataDownload
or
Dataset
or
Observation
or
PropertyValue
or
StatisticalVariable
A subproperty of
measurementTechnique
that can be used for specifying specific methods, in particular via
MeasurementMethodEnum
measurementTechnique
DataCatalog
or
DataDownload
or
Dataset
or
Observation
or
PropertyValue
or
StatisticalVariable
A technique, method or technology used in an
Observation
StatisticalVariable
or
Dataset
(or
DataDownload
DataCatalog
), corresponding to the method used for measuring the corresponding variable(s) (for datasets, described using
variableMeasured
; for
Observation
, a
StatisticalVariable
). Often but not necessarily each
variableMeasured
will have an explicit representation as (or mapping to) an property such as those defined in Schema.org, or other RDF vocabularies and "knowledge graphs". In that case the subproperty of
variableMeasured
called
measuredProperty
is applicable.
The
measurementTechnique
property helps when extra clarification is needed about how a
measuredProperty
was measured. This is oriented towards scientific and scholarly dataset publication but may have broader applicability; it is not intended as a full representation of measurement, but can often serve as a high level summary for dataset discovery.
For example, if
variableMeasured
is: molecule concentration,
measurementTechnique
could be: "mass spectrometry" or "nmr spectroscopy" or "colorimetry" or "immunofluorescence". If the
variableMeasured
is "depression rating", the
measurementTechnique
could be "Zung Scale" or "HAM-D" or "Beck Depression Inventory".
If there are several
variableMeasured
properties recorded for some given data object, use a
PropertyValue
for each
variableMeasured
and attach the corresponding
measurementTechnique
. The value can also be from an enumeration, organized as a
MeasurementMethodEnum
pattern
CreativeWork
or
Product
A pattern that something has, for example 'polka dot', 'striped', 'Canadian flag'. Values are typically expressed as text, although links to controlled value schemes are also supported.
physicalRequirement
JobPosting
A description of the types of physical activity associated with the job. Defined terms such as those in O*net may be used, but note that there is no way to specify the level of ability as well as its nature when using a defined term.
potentialUse
ChemicalSubstance
or
MolecularEntity
Intended use of the BioChemEntity by humans.
programType
EducationalOccupationalProgram
The type of educational or occupational program. For example, classroom, internship, alternance, etc.
pronouns
Person
A short string listing or describing pronouns for a person. Typically the person concerned is the best authority as pronouns are a critical part of personal identity and expression. Publishers and consumers of this information are reminded to treat this data responsibly, take country-specific laws related to gender expression into account, and be wary of out-of-date data and drawing unwarranted inferences about the person being described.
In English, formulations such as "they/them", "she/her", and "he/him" are commonly used online and can also be used here. We do not intend to enumerate all possible micro-syntaxes in all languages. More structured and well-defined external values for pronouns can be referenced using the
StructuredValue
or
DefinedTerm
values.
sensoryRequirement
JobPosting
A description of any sensory requirements and levels necessary to function on the job, including hearing and vision. Defined terms such as those in O*net may be used, but note that there is no way to specify the level of ability as well as its nature when using a defined term.
size
CreativeWork
or
Product
A standardized size of a product or creative work, specified either through a simple textual string (for example 'XL', '32Wx34L'), a QuantitativeValue with a unitCode, or a comprehensive and structured
SizeSpecification
; in other cases, the
width
height
depth
and
weight
properties may be more applicable.
skills
JobPosting
or
Occupation
or
Organization
or
Person
A statement of knowledge, skill, ability, task or any other assertion expressing a competency that is either claimed by a person, an organization or desired or required to fulfill a role or to work in an occupation.
taxonomicRange
BioChemEntity
The taxonomic grouping of the organism that expresses, encodes, or in some way related to the BioChemEntity.
teaches
CreativeWork
or
EducationEvent
or
LearningResource
The item being described is intended to help a person learn the competency or learning outcome defined by the referenced term.
valueReference
PropertyValue
or
QualitativeValue
or
QuantitativeValue
A secondary value that provides additional information on the original value, e.g. a reference temperature or a type of measurement.
variesBy
ProductGroup
Indicates the property or properties by which the variants in a
ProductGroup
vary, e.g. their size, color etc. Schema.org properties can be referenced by their short name e.g. "color"; terms defined elsewhere can be referenced with their URIs.
More specific Types
CategoryCode
Source
Examples
Example 1
Copied
No Markup
JSON-LD
Structure
Example notes or example HTML without markup.
Systems Research Engineer at a Software Publishers (NAICS code 511210)
Example encoded as
JSON-LD
in a HTML script tag.

Structured representation of the JSON-LD example.
"@context": "https://schema.org/",
"@type": "JobPosting",
"title": "Systems Research Engineer",
"industry": {
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"termCode": "511210",
"name": "Software Publishers",
"url": "https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=511210",
"inDefinedTermSet": "NAICS (North American Industry Classification System)"
Example 2
Copied
No Markup
Microdata
RDFa
JSON-LD
Structure
Example notes or example HTML without markup.

Example encoded as
Microdata
embedded in HTML.

Example encoded as
RDFa
embedded in HTML.

Example encoded as
JSON-LD
in a HTML script tag.
"@context": "https://schema.org/",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"termCode": "Man",
"inDefinedTermSet": "http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/resourceTypes"
Structured representation of the JSON-LD example.
"@context": "https://schema.org/",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"termCode": "Man",
"inDefinedTermSet": "http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/resourceTypes"
Example 3
Copied
No Markup
Microdata
RDFa
JSON-LD
Structure
Example notes or example HTML without markup.

Example encoded as
Microdata
embedded in HTML.

Example encoded as
RDFa
embedded in HTML.

Example encoded as
JSON-LD
in a HTML script tag.
"@context": "https://schema.org/"
},
"@type": ["DefinedTermSet","Book"],
"@id": "http://openjurist.org/dictionary/Ballentine",
"name": "Ballentine's Law Dictionary"
},
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "http://openjurist.org/dictionary/Ballentine/term/calendar-year",
"name": "calendar year",
"description": "The period from January 1st to December 31st, inclusive, of any year.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "http://openjurist.org/dictionary/Ballentine"
},
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "http://openjurist.org/dictionary/Ballentine/term/schema",
"name": "schema",
"description": "A representation of a plan or theory in the form of an outline or model.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "http://openjurist.org/dictionary/Ballentine"
Structured representation of the JSON-LD example.
"@context": "https://schema.org/"
},
"@type": ["DefinedTermSet","Book"],
"@id": "http://openjurist.org/dictionary/Ballentine",
"name": "Ballentine's Law Dictionary"
},
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "http://openjurist.org/dictionary/Ballentine/term/calendar-year",
"name": "calendar year",
"description": "The period from January 1st to December 31st, inclusive, of any year.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "http://openjurist.org/dictionary/Ballentine"
},
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "http://openjurist.org/dictionary/Ballentine/term/schema",
"name": "schema",
"description": "A representation of a plan or theory in the form of an outline or model.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "http://openjurist.org/dictionary/Ballentine"
Example 4
Copied
No Markup
Microdata
RDFa
JSON-LD
Structure
Example notes or example HTML without markup.

Example encoded as
Microdata
embedded in HTML.

Example encoded as
RDFa
embedded in HTML.

Example encoded as
JSON-LD
in a HTML script tag.
"@context": "https://schema.org/",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"name": "Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders",
"termCode": "51-6042.00",
"description": "Operate or tend a variety of machines to join, decorate, reinforce, or finish shoes and shoe parts.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "http://onetonline.org"
Structured representation of the JSON-LD example.
"@context": "https://schema.org/",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"name": "Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders",
"termCode": "51-6042.00",
"description": "Operate or tend a variety of machines to join, decorate, reinforce, or finish shoes and shoe parts.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "http://onetonline.org"
Terms and conditions
Schema.org
V30.0
2026-03-19