What does "componential analysis" mean in linguistics?

Question

I'm supposed to compare the treatment of the same word in three different dictionaries and in one of the questions I'm supposed to answer, the term "componential analysis methods" comes up. I searched on the internet, but couldn't find anything. Anyone know what it is or where I can find out?

Answer 1

I don't know, but there are some sharp linguists in the Languages section here (Society and Culture).