Abstract:
The article focuses on changeability and variability of lexicographic definitions of word meanings given by Russian and English dictionaries. On the basis of various types of lexical units in Russian and English, changeability of definitions as an answer of a lexicographer to new knowledge about the phenomena represented by the words is demonstrated, while variability of lexicographic descriptions in contemporary dictionaries rooted in different types of knowledge explicated within the definitions is viewed as a result of the specific relationship which exists between meanings of the words and the conceptual structures represented.
