I’m not aware of any undercurrent or cynicism but “pretty much anyone’s definition” isn’t really accurate.
"In Roman Catholicism a nun is an enclosed female monastic, - the male equivalent is “monk.”…
In the Roman Catholic Church, “nun” and “religious sister” have distinct meanings. Women belonging to orders like the Sisters of Charity, or 3rd order Franciscans or Dominicans are religious sisters, not nuns. Nuns and sisters are distinguished by the type of vows they take (solemn vow vs. simple vow) and the focus of their good works. The type of vows that are taken are dependent on the Constitutions and/or rule of each community, which are submitted for approval to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, a body of the Roman Curia. The religious community of a nun is referred to as a “religious order” while the religious community of a sister is referred to as an “institute” or “congregation”. Hence, all nuns are religious sisters, but not all religious sisters are, properly speaking, nuns.
To be a nun, one must
Live in a cloistered community or monastery
belong to an order the members of which eventually take the solemn vows and
Recite the Liturgy of the Hours or other prayers together with her community.
Nuns are restricted from leaving the cloister, though some may engage in limited teaching or other vocational work depending on the strictness of enforcement. "
This is from Wikipedia FWIW. They go on to define nun in different religions. Eastern orthodox, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Calvinists as well as Buddhists have nuns.
So by the Roman Catholic definition she would be a religious sister, by the broader definition of “A nun is a woman who has taken special vows committing her to a religious life” she would be a nun.
I agree though in principle. This is definitely an argument of semantics.
P