How students interpret and enact inquiry-oriented defining practices in undergraduate real analysis.

Highlights: [•] Investigation of student's frames for defining in inquiry-oriented college class. [•] Identifies four categories of students’ conceptions of the defining situation. [•] Students’ frames for defining influenced their sense of authority in the classroom. [•] Students acting as mathematicians identified meta-mathematical values for defining. [•] All students reported that the engaging in defining yielded benefits to learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]