Overview

With a document as large as the National Electrical Code, it is imperative that certain words be clearly defined. Previously, the NEC has included numerous locations for definitions. The primary location for definitions was Article 100, butsecondary definitions could be found in the xxx.2 section of particular articles. The definitions found in xxx.2 only applied to the article that they were present in. This helped keep Article 100 shorter, but made it difficult to find certain definitions in a timely manner. The 2023 NEC has changed the location of the definitions in accordance with the updated NEC style manual.

Applying the 2023 Code

The 2023 NEC has moved all of the definitions to Article 100. This major change eliminates the xxx.2 section in articles requiring specific terminology. The definitions are in alphabetical order, and now include an article number in parenthesis after the definition if the definition only applies to a single article. Now instead of having to look in multiple locations for a definition, the electrical professional has one location to look in. This change comes from a NEC style manual change, and helps to align the NEC with other codes by putting all of the definitions in one location. As a side-effect of this change, the xxx.2 of articles previously containing definitions have been repurposed for other code changes.