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John
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Can a Secondary Definition Violate/Negate the First Definition

I have a specific word in mind, but I'd rather not use it to avoid potential bias. I'll edit and post the word if I need to.

Hypothetically, I have a word, "CanHoldWater", defined by Merriam-Webster as

Adjective
A) capable of holding water
B) In biology: capable of holding water overnight

So, if we know a ficus can 'hold water', but just not overnight. Is the statement: "This is a CanHoldWater ficus." true or false?

I would believe that you can use the word intending the second definition, but that the primary definition shouldn't be violated. Is this just a semantics argument that has no answer? Are there written or unwritten rules to creating definitions with this type of scenario in mind?

If this isn't a sufficient example, I'll provide the actual word after some input. In my mind it mirrors the problem with the actual word in my view pretty well, but it's politically loaded.

John
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