It's possible that my dismissal of many definitions is partly because they're not my preferred one. I'm human, so it's most likely the case. I like to think my preferred one at least came about through some investigation, and it's the only one that I've seen fit a wide enough variety of cases. For me, at least part of the validation comes from the fact that I was frustrated at the definitions people gave me long before I found one I liked. Too many conversations with college teachers, mentors and colleagues that went
"So how would you define/describe an object?"
-"..."
"OK, but what about [language/edge case/model]?"
-"Oh yeah..."
I'll gladly have this conversation again, and again, and again, and I hope somebody can poke holes in the definition I prefer, and put me on the other side of it.