“What is the meaning of this word?”
For example, in a class a teacher asks the question above generally but doesn’t ask about the meaning of the word in a specific sentence.
Because the word has many different meanings, I don’t know which meaning that I should mention.
Do I need to list all meanings of the word?
Why is the definite article used here?
Your guess as to what the teacher expects is as good as anyone’s, I think.
An article is required because “meaning” in this sense is a countable noun. The definite article implies that there is only one meaning (or only one relevant in the context).
Haha…thanks. 