The phrase "a defining figure" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe someone who has had a significant impact or influence in a particular field or context.
Example: "Albert Einstein is often regarded as a defining figure in the field of theoretical physics."
Alternatives: "a pivotal figure" or "a key figure".
Building a career on such girl fighter novelty stunts as a role on a reality TV show and a turn on "American Gladiators," Carano has emerged as a defining figure at a defining moment for her sport, cast as part suffragette, part test case, part marketing ploy and part crossover star.
The FDP has lost a defining figure.
For British climbing, Johnny Dawes, now 47, remains a defining figure.
Perhaps with the five tracks featuring Bassekou Kouyate, the ngoni player from Mali who has emerged as a defining figure in modern West African music.
"Liliane Landor has been a defining figure in shaping the World Service over the course of her 26 years at the BBC," he said.
Of course, if fit and healthy Bill Hamid most likely would have made the roster, but DC United - for all that they have enjoyed a successful 2015 - are a team without a frontman or a defining figure.
The load history is recovered with a smoothing/filter algorithm and the load location is estimated with a linear search for the lowest value of a defined figure of merit J, which measures the difference between the calculated response and the measured response.
The plumber of Palm Island, who became the defining figure of a community uprising over a notorious death in custody, has spearheaded a successful class action that he hopes will forever change the public narrative around the events of 2004.
But the save is the obvious defining figure for a closer, and now Rivera stands alone.
Oscar De La Hoya's popularity boomed in the absence of a defining heavyweight figure, and then so did that of Pacquiao.
An operation of 'delay and sum' is commonly used; delaying incoming signals and summing them together after a multiply operation with a defined weight (Figure 2). Figure 2 Beamforming structure.
