Word for concept of degrees of definition [duplicate]

Question

Is there a name for the concept that some words have different degrees of precision, and that misalignment or ambiguity over the intended precision easily leads to misunderstanding?

Some examples, but please note that I'm not trying to be particularly accurate with these definitions, but instead offered for purpose of drawing the point that there are two senses with differing levels of precision, and this ambiguity of precision if not addressed could lead to confusion/argument.

In colloquial usage the word "chemical" generally refers to dangerous substances, more likely liquid, usually man-made, and differentiated from "natural"; while in scientific usage a "chemical" is pretty much anything made of atoms — arsenic is a naturally occuring chemical substance, as even is gold.

A scientific "theory" is more narrowly defined than the colloquial usage, and particularly so as with a conspiracy "theory".

Today, armour scholars define "mail" as it was defined in the Middle Ages — consisting of a "fabric" of interlocked metal rings that form a strong, flexible, mesh armour. (The word "mail" being derived through the Old English mayle, the French maille, and Italian maglia, from the Latin macula, which refers to the mesh of a net). This definition of mail was not the one used by Victorian scholars though. They used the word in a more general sense — to describe any sort of metallic body armour (i.e. "mail" is "armour", and thus a need to invent the term "chain mail"). [cribbed from here]

So, similar to how a synecdoche refers to parts/whole of a thing, but different in that here the differentiation is by precision. Also, polysemy is too broad, as it encompasses any alternatives of definition and not specifically two senses which are similar in topic/direction but otherwise disagree in terms of precision.

(Doesn't have to be a single word)

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Update: it would appear the closest sense has to do with Semantic Broadening and Semantic Narrowing.

Answer 1

The problem with finding such a word is that descriptions of definitions have no linear measurement. There is no continuum.

Those who prepare dictionaries can present definitions in whatever order they choose—for example, most common, earliest, or whatever. A word may be used as different parts of speech (noun, verb). One word may have very different meanings. Consider, for example, “bow.”

Words that are uncommon in everyday speech may become more common, like social distancing, the use of which has become more common in the last year and changed in meaning in its most frequent use.

See Wikipedia on lexicography for more information on the theory and practice of making dictionaries.

Answer 2

The lexicographers might step up, please.

The degrees you are looking for is the description of the definitions of words as their usage is enumerated in the dictionary. As you move from definition 1 to 5 and onward you will see the most common usage first and increasingly less common usages later. This is apparently not done in Merriam Webster

Usages primarily concern themselves with their audience. Advertisers use "chemical" to get a negative reaction from the majority of people. They even say it with a tone to show that it is not pleasant. Away from sales pitches a discussion about chemicals need have no negative interpretation.

"Theory" is a great example. Anyone defending the theory of Evolution is always pointing out that a proper theory is not described in the top two usages in the dictionary. There you see a theory as a general possibility not a scientific hypothesis.

Your degrees of precision are precisely those set forth ad seriatim in each definition. The name for such a listing out I cannot provide.