Cite as: 503 U. S. 607 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
which the special definition occurs.14 Such differences in treatment within a given statutory text are reasonably understood to reflect differences in meaning intended, see 2A Singer, supra, § 46.06, and the inference can only be that a special definition not described as being for purposes of the "section" or "subchapter" in which it occurs was intended to have the more limited application to its own clause or sentence alone. Thus, in the instances before us here, the inclusion of the United States as a "person" must go to the clauses subjecting the United States to suit, but no further.
This textual analysis passes the test of giving effect to all the language of the citizen-suit sections. Those sections' incorporations of their respective statutes' civil-penalties sections will have the effect of authorizing punitive fines when a polluter other than the United States is brought to court by a citizen, while the sections' explicit authorizations for suits against the United States will likewise be effective, since those sections concededly authorize coercive sanctions against the National Government.15
A clear and unequivocal waiver of anything more cannot be found; a broader waiver may not be inferred, see Ruckels-14 The dissent fails to appreciate this difference, arguing that § 1365(a) "states that any person, as used in that subdivision, includes the United States," post, at 633. That statement is simply incorrect; the citizen-suit section does no more than include the United States in the class of entities that may be the subject of a suit brought under this section. In stark contrast to the examples we have given, see n. 12, supra, § 1365(a) does not purport to apply the more expansive definition of "person" throughout the subsection; by its terms it speaks only to the first mention of "person."
15 DOE explicitly concedes that such relief is available against the United States in the context of citizen suits pursuant to the CWA, see Brief for Petitioner DOE 33, and implicitly so concedes with regard to RCRA, see id., at 40-41. DOE also concedes that both statutes' federal-facilities sections authorize imposition of injunctive-type relief against the National Government, see id., at 19-20, and n. 10; see also id., at 35. DOE concedes federal liability to such penalties without reference to the civil-penalties sections of the CWA or RCRA.
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