We consider the problem of quasinormal modes (QNM) for strongly hyperbolic systems on stationary, asymptotically anti-de Sitter black holes, with very general boundary conditions at infinity. We argue that for a time slicing regular at the horizon the QNM should be identified with certain H k eigenvalues of the infinitesimal generator AA of the solution semigroup. Using this definition we are able to prove directly that the quasinormal frequencies form a discrete, countable subset of CC which in the globally stationary case accumulates only at infinity. We avoid any need for meromorphic extension, and the quasinormal modes are honest eigenfunctions of an operator on a Hilbert space. Our results apply to any of the linear fields usually considered (Klein- Gordon, Maxwell, Dirac, etc.) on a stationary black hole background, and do not rely on any separability or analyticity properties of the metric. Our methods and results largely extend to the locally stationary case. We provide a counter-example to the conjecture that quasinormal modes are complete. We relate our approach directly to the approach via meromorphic continuation.