Cite as: 513 U. S. 561 (1995)
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
I
To construe a legislatively defined term, courts usually start with the defining section. Section 2(10) defines prospectus capaciously as "any prospectus, notice, circular, advertisement, letter, or communication, written or by radio or television, which offers any security for sale or confirms the sale of any security," 15 U. S. C. § 77b(10). The items listed in the defining provision, notably "letters" and "communications," are common in private and secondary sales, as well as in public offerings. The § 2(10) definition thus does not confine the § 12(2) term "prospectus" to public offerings.
The Court bypasses § 2(10), and the solid support it gives the Court of Appeals' disposition. Instead of beginning at the beginning, by first attending to the definition section, the Court starts with § 10, 15 U. S. C. § 77j, a substantive provision. See ante, at 568-569. The Court correctly observes that the term "prospectus" has a circumscribed meaning in that context. A prospectus within the contemplation of § 10 is a formal document, typically a document composing part of a registration statement; a § 10 prospectus, all agree, appears only in public offerings. The Court then proceeds backward; it reads into the literally and logically prior definition section, § 2(10), the meaning "prospectus" has in § 10.
To justify its backward reading—proceeding from § 10 to § 2(10) and not the other way round—the Court states that it "cannot accept the conclusion that [the operative word 'prospectus'] means one thing in one section of the Act and something quite different in another." See ante, at 573. Our decisions, however, constantly recognize that "a characterization fitting in certain contexts may be unsuitable in others." NationsBank of N. C., N. A. v. Variable Annuity Life Ins. Co., ante, at 262. In Atlantic Cleaners & Dyers, Inc. v. United States, 286 U. S. 427 (1932), we held that the word "trade" has a more encompassing meaning in
597
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