word

en-noun

word (countable and uncountable, plural words)

words (plural)
worde (alternative obsolete)

desc

Chinese Pidgin English: word, 𭉉 (Chinese spelling)

From Middle English word, from Old English word, from Proto-West Germanic *word, from Proto-Germanic *wurdą, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥dʰh₁om. Doublet of verb and verve; further related to vrata.

you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone

Then all was silent save the voice of the high priest, whose words grew louder and louder, […]

1894, Alex. R. Mackwen, “The Samaritan Passover”, in Littell's Living Age, volume 1, number 6:

Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

I can't believe you want me back.
You've got Jen to thank for that. Her words the other day moved me deeply. Very deeply indeed.
Really? What did she say.
Like I remember! Point is it's the effect of her words that's important.

2006 Feb. 17, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4

(semantics) The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language. (contrast morpheme.)

The smallest discrete unit of spoken language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more phonemes and one or more morphemes

Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

The name was a confused gift of love from her father, who could not read the word but picked it out of the Bible for its visual shape, […]

2003, Jan Furman, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon: A Casebook, →ISBN, page 194:

Well-meaning academics even introduced spelling absurdities such as the “s” in the word “island,” a misguided Renaissance attempt to restore the etymology of the [unrelated] Latin word insula.

2009, Stanislas Dehaene, Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read, →ISBN:

The smallest discrete unit of written language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more letters or symbols and one or more morphemes

“Ain’t! How often am I to tell you ain’t ain’t a word?”

1896, Israel Zangwill, Without Prejudice, page 21:

Fisherwoman isn’t even a word. It’s not in the dictionary.

1999, Linda Greenlaw, The Hungry Ocean, Hyperion, page 11:

A discrete, meaningful unit of language approved by an authority or native speaker (compare non-word).

But every word, whether written or spoken, which urges the woman to antagonism against the man, every word which is written or spoken to try and make of her a hybrid, self-contained opponent of men, makes a rift in the lute to which the world looks for its sweetest music.

1897, Ouida, “The New Woman”, in An Altruist and Four Essays, page 239:

The word, whether written or spoken, does not look like or sound like its meaning — it does not resemble its signified. We only connect the two because we have learnt the code — language. Without such knowledge, 'Maggie' would just be a meaningless pattern of shapes or sounds.

1986, David Barrat, Media Sociology, →ISBN, page 112:

Brian and Abby signed the word clothing, in which the thumbs brush down the chest as though something is hanging there. They both spoke the word clothing. Brian then signed the word for change, […]

2009, Jack Fitzgerald, Viva La Evolucin, →ISBN, page 233:

Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.

2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37:


antonym

From French antonyme (1840s and 1850s), which was modeled on earlier synonyme and influenced by the etymons of Ancient Greek ἀντωνυμία (antōnumía, “pronoun”); credit for popularization of the French loanword's naturalization into English is given principally to Charles John Smith and his 1867 book Synonyms and Antonyms: Or, Kindred Words and Their Opposites. Collected and Contrasted. By surface analysis, ant- + -onym.

der

“Rich” is an antonym of “poor”; “full” is an antonym of “empty”.

(semantics) A word which has the opposite meaning of another word.

All four lines of the pattern are required to establish that hot and cold are antonyms.
The water is hot entails The water is not cold.
The water is cold entails The water is not hot.
The water is not hot does not entail The water is cold.
The water is not cold does not entail The water is hot.

2005, Andrew John Merrison, Aileen Bloomer, Patrick Griffiths, Christopher J. Hall, Introducing Language in Use, page 111:

gradable antonym
gradable antonym#English

A word that describes one end of a scale, while its opposite describes the other end, such as large versus small; a gradable antonym.


connotation

/ˌkɒnəˈteɪʃən/

/ˌkɑnəˈteɪʃən/

/ˌkɒnəˈteɪʃən/

/ˌkɔnəˈtæɪʃən/

/ˌkɒnəˈtæɪʃən/

Borrowed from Medieval Latin connotātiō, from connotō (“I mark in addition”), from Latin con- (“together, with”) + noto (“I note”); equivalent to connote + -ation.

The word "advisedly" has a connotation of "wisely", although it denotes merely "intentionally" and "deliberately."

The word "happy" has a positive connotation, while "sad" has a negative connotation.

(semantics) A meaning of a word or phrase that is suggested or implied, as opposed to a denotation, or literal meaning. A characteristic of words or phrases, or of the contexts that words and phrases are used in.


denotation

en-noun

denotation (countable and uncountable, plural denotations)

From Late Latin dēnotātiō, from Latin dēnotāre (“to denote, mark out”) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns of action), from dē- (“completely”) + notāre (“to mark”); equivalent to denote + -ation.

(semantics) Something signified or referred to; a particular meaning of a symbol


synonym

synonyms (plural)
synonime (alternative obsolete)
synonyme (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English sinonyme, from Latin synōnymum, from Ancient Greek συνώνυμον (sunṓnumon), neuter singular form of συνώνυμος (sunṓnumos, “synonymous”), from σύν (sún, “with”) + ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”). By surface analysis, syn- + -onym.

(semantics, strictly) A word or term whose meaning is the same as that of another.

“Happy” is a synonym of “glad”.

The proportion of English words that have an exact synonym is small.

1991, William T. Parry, Edward A. Hacker, Aristotelian Logic:

(semantics, loosely) A word or phrase with a meaning that is the same as, or very similar to, another word or phrase.


hyponym

From hyp- + -onym or hypo- + -nym; from Ancient Greek ὑπό (hupó, “under”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma) ("appellation"), a Doric specific dialectal form of ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).

The words “dog”, “cat”, and “human” are hyponyms of “animal” because dogs, cats, and humans are types of animal.

Woman itself has as other hyponyms, sculptress and waitress, but is itself a hyponym of adult.

1977, Ruth Kempson, Semantic Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 86:

(semantics) A more specific term; a subordinate grouping word or phrase; a term designating a subclass of another more general class described by the given word.


definition

definition (countable and uncountable, plural definitions)

From Middle English diffinicioun, from Middle French definition, from Latin dēfīnītiō, from dēfīniō. Equivalent to define + -ition.

Your definition of "elephant" needs to be more precise than "a big animal with large ears".

DEFINITIONS mean nothing unless the concept in the mind of the men who makes the definition is the same as that in the mind of the man who hears it.

1925, Thomas R. Marshall, Recollections of Thomas R. Marshall, Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, →OL, page 65:

Phrases such as “woman of the moment” were added to equal the old saying of the “man of the moment.” And one of the definitions of “woman” now refers to a “person’s wife, girlfriend, or female lover,” as opposed to being tied to only a man.

2020 November 9, Christina Zdanowicz, “Oxford dictionaries change ‘sexist’ and outdated definitions of the word ‘woman’”, in CNN:

dictionary definition
dictionary definition

(semantics, lexicography) A statement of the meaning of a word, word group, sign, or symbol; especially, a dictionary definition.

përkufizim

statement of the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or symbol


achievement

achievement (countable and uncountable, plural achievements)

achievements (plural)
acheivement (alternative misspelling)

[əˈt͡ʃʰiːv.mɪ̈nt̚]

From Middle French achevement (compare Modern French achèvement), from Old French achevement, from the verb achever, achiever (“to finish”); equivalent to achieve + -ment. The heraldic sense may be influenced by hatchment.

[…]distinctions among states of affairs are reflected to a striking degree in distinctions among Aktionsart types. That is, situations are expressed by state verbs or predicates, events by achievement verbs or predicates, and actions by activity verbs or predicates.

1997, Robert van Valin, Randy LaPolla, Syntax, page 92:

(grammar, semantics) The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that change in an instant.


seme

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek σῆμα (sêma).

lbor

(linguistics, semiotics) Anything which serves for any purpose as a substitute for an object of which it is, in some sense, a representation, sign, or symbol.


morpheme

From French morphème, equivalent to morph + -eme. Ultimately from Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “shape, form”).

der

(linguistic morphology) The smallest linguistic unit within a word that can carry a meaning. It may be a letter, a syllable, or otherwise.


expression

en-noun

expression (countable and uncountable, plural expressions)

Borrowed from Middle French expression, from Late Latin expressiō, expressiōnem (“a pressing out”).
Morphologically express + -ion.

der

(programming) A piece of code in a high-level language that returns a value.

uitdrukking

(computing) a piece of code in a high-level language that returns a value


homonym

From Latin homōnymum, from Ancient Greek ὁμώνυμον (homṓnumon), nominalized from the neuter of ὁμώνῠμος (homṓnŭmos, “homonymous”). By surface analysis, homo- + -onym.

en:word with same spelling or same sound or both

en:word with both same spelling and same sound

(loosely) A word that sounds or is spelled the same as another word (but not necessarily both).

(semantics, strictly) A word that both sounds and is spelled the same as another word.


homophone

From French homophone; equivalent to homo- (“same”) + -phone (“sound”).

homofon (not infrequently spelled homofón)

azonos kiejtésű, de eltérő jelentésű szó (és gyakran eltérő alakú)

(semantics) A word which is pronounced the same as another word but differs in spelling or meaning or origin.


kind

en-adj

kind (comparative kinder, superlative kindest)

kinder (comparative)
kindest (superlative)
kinde (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English kinde, kunde, kende, from Old English cynde, ġecynde (“innate, natural, native”), from Old English cynd, ġecynd (“nature, kind”).

a horse kind in harness


force

en-noun

force (countable and uncountable, plural forces)

From Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Late Latin fortia, a noun derived from the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

der

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

ուժեր

group that aims to attack, control, or constrain

ҡеүәт

ability to attack, control, or constrain

When the aspectual force of the verbal categories weakens, the 'terminative', punctual or determinative value of the prefix gains in importance,...

1962, J Gonda, The aspectual function of the R̥gvedic present and aorist, S̓-Gravenhage, Mouton, page 43:

(linguistics, semantics, pragmatics) Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning.

voima

linguistics: ability of an utterance to effect a given meaning


activity

en-noun

activity (countable and uncountable, plural activities)

From Middle French activité, from Latin activitas. Equivalent to active + -ity.

(grammar, semantics) The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that change over time and have no natural end point.


accomplishment

accomplishment (countable and uncountable, plural accomplishments)

* First attested in the early 15th century.
* (completes, perfects, equips): First attested around 1600.
* accomplish + -ment
* Borrowed from French accomplissement, from accomplir

Thus it is attested that some children have taken an accomplishment verb like disappear, which does not have a causative counterpart, and used it as a causative accomplishment in sentences like He disappeared it, i.e. ‘He made it disappear.’

1997, Robert van Valin, Randy LaPolla, Syntax, pages 183-84:

(grammar, semantics) The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that change over time until a natural end point.


state

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-
Latin statuslbor.
Old French estatbor.
Middle English stat
English state
From Middle English stat (as a noun); adopted c. 1200 from both Old French estat and Latin stātus (“manner of standing, attitude, position, carriage, manner, dress, apparel; and other senses”), from stāre (“to stand”). Doublet of estate and status. The sense of "polity" develops in the 14th century. Compare French être, Greek στέω (stéo), Italian stare, Portuguese estar, Romanian sta, and Spanish estar. The verb is first attested around the beginning of the 16th century. Related to English stand.

der

something is rotten in the state of Denmark

there is something rotten in the state of Denmark

The most basic Aktionsart distinction is between states and occurrences.

2010, Nick Riemer, Introducing Semantics, page 320:

(grammar, semantics) The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that do not change over time.


sense

en-noun

sense (countable and uncountable, plural senses)

→ Afrikaans: sense

From Middle English sense, from Old French sens, sen, san (“sense, perception, direction”); partly from Latin sēnsus (“sensation, feeling, meaning”), from sentiō (“feel, perceive”); partly of Germanic origin (whence also Occitan sen, Italian senno), from Vulgar Latin *sennus (“sense, reason, way”), from Frankish *sinn ("reason, judgement, mental faculty, way, direction"; whence also Dutch zin, German Sinn, Swedish sinne, Norwegian sinn). Both Latin and Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”).

gl

enough sense to pound sand into a rathole

where there's no sense there's no feeling

en:meaning or reason, generally
en:semantics term

The meaning, reason, or value of something.

(semantics, lexicography) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries or definitions for a word in a dictionary.


class

en-noun

class (countable and uncountable, plural classes)

→ Assamese: ক্লাছ (klas)

desc

→ Bengali: ক্লাস (klaś), কেলাস (kelaś) — nonstandard

q

or from French <i class="Latn mention" lang="fr">classe</i>

→ Gulf Arabic: كلاس (klās) (or from French classe)

→ Hindustani:

Hindi: क्लास (klās)

Urdu: کلاس

→ Japanese: クラス (kurasu)

→ Korean: 클래스 (keullaeseu)

→ Nepali: क्लास (klās)

→ Scottish Gaelic: clas

→ Thai: คลาส (kláas)

→ Yoruba: kíláàsì

From Middle French classe, from Latin classis (“a class or division of the people, assembly of people, the whole body of citizens called to arms, the army, the fleet, later a class or division in general”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, shout”). Doublet of clas and classis.

class action

class-action, class action lawsuit, class suit

Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.

2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

(sociology, countable) A social grouping, based on job, wealth, etc. In Britain, society is commonly split into three main classes: upper class, middle class and working class.

klas

Magnolias belong to the class Magnoliopsida.

(taxonomy, countable) A rank in the classification of organisms, below phylum and above order; a taxon of that rank.

klas

taxonomy: classification below Phylum and above Order

an abstract base class

object-oriented programming
object-oriented programming

(object-oriented programming, countable) A set of objects having the same behavior (but typically differing in state), or a template defining such a set in terms of its common properties, functions, etc.

klas

object-oriented programming: set of objects possibly differing in state but not behavior


genus

en-noun

genus (plural genera or (all nonstandard) genuses or genusses or genii)

genera (plural)
genuses (nonstandard plural)
genusses (nonstandard plural)
genii (nonstandard plural)

→ Malayalam: ജീനസ് (jīnasŭ)

→ Swahili: jenasi

→ Thai: สกุล (sà-gun) (semantic loan)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os
Latin genusbor.
English genus
Borrowed from Latin genus (“birth, origin, a race, sort, kind”) from the root gen- in Latin gignō (“to beget, produce”). Doublet of gender and genre, further related to kin.

genus

rank in a taxonomic classification between family and species

(semantics) Within a definition, a broader category of the defined concept.


lexicon

William Fulke
lexicon
lexicon (disambiguation)

Through Middle French or directly from New Latin lexicon, from Byzantine Greek λεξικόν (lexikón, “a lexicon, a dictionary”), ellipsis from Ancient Greek λεξικὸν βιβλίον (lexikòn biblíon, literally “a book of words”), from λεξικός (lexikós, “of words”), from λέξις (léxis, “a saying, speech, word”), from λέγω (légō, “to speak”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather, collect”).
Attested at least since 1583 (in William Fulke's A Defense of the Sincere and True Translations of the Holy Scriptures into the English tongue) in the sense 'a dictionary of a classical language'.

der

λεξικὸν βιβλίον

Sluiter examines a tension inherent in such scholarly works as lexica, scholia, epitomai, and commentaries: although the very titles of these works claim no more than secondary status, their authors engage nonetheless in a rhetoric of self-legitimation.

2000, Mary Depew, Dirk Obbink, Matrices of Genre: Authors, Canons, and Society, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 10, →ISBN:

(lexicography, linguistics) A dictionary that includes or focuses on lexemes.

A dictionary of Classical Greek, Hebrew, Latin, or Aramaic.

λεξικό

programming language
programming language

(programming) The lexicology of a programming language. (Usually called lexical structure.)


degree

→ Burmese: ဒီဂရီ (diga.ri)

→ Juba Arabic: digrii

→ Swahili: digrii

→ Tagalog: digri

From Middle English degre, borrowed from Old French degré (French: degré), itself from Latin gradus, with the prefix de-.

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 26. Degree

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 31. Greatness

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 32. Smallness

The set of complex numbers constitutes a field extension of degree 2 over the real numbers.

The Galois field #92;operatorname#123;GF#125;(125)#61;#92;operatorname#123;GF#125;(5³) has degree 3 over its subfield #92;operatorname#123;GF#125;(5).

(algebra, field theory) The dimensionality of a field extension.

степен

field theory: the dimensionality of a field extension

(graph theory) The number of edges that a vertex takes part in; a valency.

степен

graph theory: the number of edges that a vertex takes part in

(grammar) Any of the stages (like positive, comparative, superlative, elative) in the comparison of an adjective or an adverb.

And they axed hym ſayinge: Maſter / we knowe that thou ſayest / and teacheſt ryght / nether conſidereſt thou eny mãnes degre / but teacheſt the waye of god truely.

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Gospell off S. Luke xx:[21], folio cx, recto:

But when Adam delued, and Eue ſpan,
VVho was then a Gentleman.
Brethren, brethren, it were better to haue this communitie,
Then to haue this difference in degrees:
The landlord his rent, the lawyer his fees.
So quickly the poore mans ſubſtance is ſpent […]

1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I:

A stage of rank or privilege; social standing.


prototype

[ˈpɹoʊɾəˌtaɪp]

[ˈpɹoʊɾəˌtʌɪp]

[ˈpɹəʉɾətɑep]

[ˈpɹɐʉɾətɑep]

[ˈpɹɐʉɾətaɪp]

From French prototype or Late Latin prototypon, from Ancient Greek πρωτότυπος (prōtótupos, “original; prototype”), from πρωτο- (prōto-, “first”) (from πρῶτος (prôtos, “first; earliest”)) + τῠ́πος (tŭ́pos, “blow, pressing; sort, type”) (from τύπτω (túptō, “to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- (“to push; to stick”)). The word is analysable as proto- + -type.

A robin is a prototype of a bird; a penguin is not.

If the robin is the prototype of bird, do particular examples of robin constitute that prototype for different people? I think not. Rather, prototypes are themselves categories. Thus, to say that a robin is a prototypic bird is to propose that a class of similar creatures called robin is a prototype of bird.

2014, Cecil H. Brown, “A Survey of Category Types in Natural Language”, in S[avas] L. Tsohatzidis, editor, Meanings and Prototypes: Studies in Linguistic Categorization (Routledge Library Editions: Linguistics), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, part 1 (On the Content of Prototype Categories: Questions of Word Meaning), page 23:

Although it is common knowledge today that a great many linguistic categories are, indeed, prototype categories[…], a number of linguists still perceive grammatical categories as being classical in their nature[…]. These linguists are reluctant to accept the idea that prototypicality might be relevant to grammar and that grammatical categories, like all other categories, can also display prototype effects.

2015, [anonymous], “Introduction”, in Words, Affixes, and Clitics as Prototype Categories: Seminar Paper, [Munich, Bavaria]: GRIN Verlag, →ISBN, page 2:

(semantics) An instance of a category or a concept that combines its most representative attributes.


type

→ Japanese: タイプ

→ Korean: 타입 (taip)

From Middle English type (“symbol, figure, emblem”), from Latin typus, from Ancient Greek τύπος (túpos, “mark, impression, type”), from τύπτω (túptō, “I strike, beat”).

tyyppiyksilö

biology: individual representative of its taxonomic group

(computing theory) A tag attached to variables and values used in determining which kinds of value can be used in which situations; a data type.

tipu

computing theory: tag indicating data type


reference

en-noun

reference (countable and uncountable, plural references)

From Middle French référence, from Medieval Latin referentia, nominative neuter plural of referēns, present participle of referō (“return, reply”, literally “carry back”). Morphologically refer + -ence.

verwysing

academic writing: identification of a source

(semantics) A relation between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object.


lexeme

From Latin lexis, from Ancient Greek λέξις (léxis, “word”) + -eme, a suffix indicating a fundamental unit in some aspect of linguistic structure, on the model of phoneme.

لِكْسِيم

linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma

A lexeme is a unit of lexical meaning, which exists regardless of any inflectional endings it may have or the number of words it may contain. Thus, fibrillate, rain cats and dogs, and come in are all lexemes, as are elephant, jog, cholesterol, happiness, put up with, face the music, and hundreds of thousands of other meaningful items in English.

2003, David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, page 118:

In a typical lexicalist approach (e.g. Koontz-Garboden 2006), the unmarked lexeme is taken as lexically listed, even if its meaning (as it often does) includes templatic entailments, and the derivational morphology is taken to operate on the underived form to yield the derived form. This is the case not only morphologically, but also semantically.

2014 September 25, Rochelle Lieber, Pavol Stekauer, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Derivational Morphology, page 347:

en:lexical item corresponding to set of inflected forms of a lemma

multi-word expression
multi-word expression

(linguistics) A lexical item corresponding to the set of all words (or of all multi-word expressions) that are semantically related through inflection of a particular shared basic form.

(strictly) The abstract minimum unit of language or meaning that underlies such a set.


homophonous

"Cot" and "caught" are homophonous in some American accents, as are "there" and "they're".

(phonetics, semantics) Having the same pronunciation.

azonos kiejtésű, de eltérő jelentésű (és gyakran eltérő alakú)


term

(computing, informal) A computer program that emulates a physical terminal.


converse

From Latin conversus (“turned around”), past participle of converto (“turn about”).

converse antonym
converse antonym#English

relational antonym
relational antonym#English

(semantics) One of a pair of terms that name or describe a relationship from opposite perspectives; converse antonym; relational antonym.


fix

en-verb

fix (third-person singular simple present fixes, present participle fixing, simple past and past participle fixt or fixed)

fixes (present singular third-person)
fixing (participle present)
fixt (participle past)
fixt (past)
fixed (participle past)
fixed (past)
fix (infinitive)
fix (first-person present singular)
fixed (first-person past singular)
fix (present second-person singular)
fixest (archaic present second-person singular)
fixed (past second-person singular)
fixedst (archaic past second-person singular)
fixes (present singular third-person)
fixeth (archaic present singular third-person)
fixed (past singular third-person)
fix (plural present)
fixed (past plural)
fix (present subjunctive)
fixed (past subjunctive)
fix (imperative present)
fixing (participle present)
fixed (participle past)
fixe (alternative archaic)

→ Dutch: fixen, fiksen

From Middle English fixen, borrowed from Old French *fixer (attested only as ficher, fichier; > English fitch), from fix (“fastened; fixed”), from Latin fīxus (“immovable; steady; stable; fixed”), from fīgō (“to drive in; stick; fasten”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to jab; stick; set”). Related to dig.

der

The function f#58;#92;mathbb#123;R#125;#92;to#92;mathbb#123;R#125;#59;f(x)#58;#61;4x-3 fixes the point 1#92;in#92;mathbb#123;R#125;, since f(1)#61;4(1)-3#61;1.

(transitive, mathematics, semantics) To map (a point or subset) to itself.


sign

en-noun

sign (countable and uncountable, plural signs)

From Middle English signe, sygne, syng, seine, sine, syne, from Old English seġn (“sign; mark; token”) and Old French signe, seing (“sign; mark; signature”); both from Latin signum (“a mark; sign; token”); root uncertain. Doublet of signum. Partially displaced native token.

teken

a fact that shows that something exists or may happen

A Noun substantive and a Noun adjective may be thus distinguished, that a substantive may have the sign a or the before it; as, puer, a boy, the boy; but an adjective cannot, as, bonus, good.

1692, Thomas Bennet, Short Introduction of Grammar ... of the Latine Tongue:

A Pronoun is a Noun implying a Person, but not admitting the Sign a or the before it.

1753, Charles Davies, Busby's English Introduction to the Latin Tongue Examined, page 11:

And some linguistic signs, like “the”, “and” or “with”, may lack apparent objects, though they are clearly meaningful and interpretable.

2008, Eero Tarasti, Robert S. Hatten, A Sounding of Signs: Modalities and Moments in Music, Culture, and Philosophy : Essays in Honor of Eero Tarasti on His 60th Anniversary:

A semantic unit, something that conveys meaning or information (e.g. a word of written language); (linguistics, semiotics) a unit consisting of a signifier and a signified concept. (See sign (semiotics).)


synonymy

synonymy (countable and uncountable, plural synonymies)

From Latin synonymia, from Ancient Greek συνωνυμία (sunōnumía), from σύν (sún, “with”) + ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).

(semantics) The quality of being synonymous; sameness of meaning.

synonymity (10× less common than synonymy)

synonymousness (600× less common than synonymy)

homosemy (2000× less common than synonymy)


listeme

Idioms such as "red herring" are listemes, as are irregular forms such as "geese".

A memorized chunk is sometimes called a listeme, that is, an item that has to be memorized as part of a list; one can argue that this book ought to have been called Listemes and Rules.

2000, Steven Pinker, Words and Rules, →ISBN, page 24:

(linguistics) An item that is memorized as part of a list, as opposed to being generated by a rule.


metonymy

metonymy (countable and uncountable, plural metonymies)

From Late Latin metonymia, from Ancient Greek μετωνυμίᾱ (metōnumíā, “change of name”), from μετά (metá, “other”) + ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).


antonymic

en-adj

antonymic (comparative more antonymic, superlative most antonymic)

more antonymic (comparative)
most antonymic (superlative)

Similarly, antonymic relationships vary by sense.

2003, M. Lynne Murphy, Semantic Relations and the Lexicon: Antonymy, Synonymy and Other Paradigms, page 30:

(semantics) Of, relating to, or being an antonym or antonyms.

enepster

of or relating to an antonym or antonyms


extension

en-noun

extension (countable and uncountable, plural extensions)

From Middle English extensioun, from Old French estension, from Latin extensiō, extensiōnem.

Perversely, we love John Wick himself. That lethal, bereaved assassin is a good bad guy for our times, the natural extension of Tony Soprano, Walter White and all the other heroic antiheroes the culture has embraced.

2023 March 14, Caryn James, “John Wick: Chapter 4: 'Soars above most action films'”, in BBC:

In addition to concepts and conceptual senses, Frege holds that there are extensions of concepts. Frege calls an extension of a concept a ‘course of values’. A course of values is determined by the value that the concept has for each of its arguments. Thus, the course of values for the concept __ is a dog records that its value for the argument Zermela is the True and for Socrates is the False, and so on. If two concepts have the same values for every argument, then their courses of values are the same. Thus, courses of values are extensional.

2011 July 20, Edwin Mares, “Propositional Functions”, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, retrieved 2012-07-15:

(semantics) Capacity of a concept or general term to include a greater or smaller number of objects; — correlative of intension.

extenze

semantics: capacity of a concept or general term to include a greater or smaller number of objects

(linguistics, semantics) semantic widening, broadening of meaning


occurrence

/əˈkɜːɹ.əns/

/əˈkøːɹ.əns/

From Middle French occurrence, from Medieval Latin occurrentia.
Morphologically occur + -ence.

The time interval of an occurrence—a temporal instantiation—is a single occasion. However, a series of such occasions can fall within a certain time interval; in this case we may represent the occurrence as a single situation (cf. I ran off and on for an hour, I ran and ran for an hour, I would run and then run some more).

1991, Robert Binnick, Time and the Verb: A Guide to Tense and Aspect, page 180:

The most basic Aktionsart distinction is between states and occurrences. […]Based on consideration of inherent differences between the events involved, Vendler distinguished three different types of occurrence, achievements, activities, and accomplishments.

2010, Nick Riemer, Introducing Semantics, page 320:

(grammar, semantics) The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that change in or over time.


umbrella term

“Cryptology” is an umbrella term that encompasses cryptography and cryptanalysis.

Transmasculine is an umbrella term referring to individuals who were assigned to a female gender role at birth but at some point come to self-identify as men, or with some other masculine identity, rather than seeing themselves as women.

2014, Tommaso M. Milani, Language and Masculinities: Performances, Intersections, Dislocations, Routledge, →ISBN, page 197:

2017, Michael R. Kauth, Jillian C. Shipherd, Adult Transgender Care: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Training Mental Health Professionals, Routledge, →ISBN:

A term used to cover a broad category of things rather than a single specific item.

總稱 /总称

term covering a broad category of things


proposition

proposition (countable and uncountable, plural propositions)

/ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/

From Middle English proposicioun, from Old French proposicion, from Latin prōpositiō, from the verb prōponō.

Our English nouns remain unchanged, whether they form the subject or the object of a proposition.

c. 1888, The Popular Educator: a Complete Encyclopaedia of Elementary, Advanced, and Technical Education. New and Revised Edition. Volume I., page 98:


vocabulary

vocabulary (countable and uncountable, plural vocabularies)

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin vocābulārium. Doublet of vocabularium.

lbor

My Russian vocabulary is very limited.

The collection of words a person knows and uses.


meronymy

en-noun

meronymy (countable and uncountable, plural meronymies)

From mero- + -onymy (from Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “part”) + ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”)); compare meronym.

This relationship of meronymy is controversial for various reasons. First, there are several types of meronymy, such as functional meronymy, where one concept is a functional part of another (e.g. FINGER-HAND) or more general part-whole relations, where the part and the whole exist as a continuous entity (e.g. FLAME-FIRE). Secondly, there are diverging opinions as to whether meronymy should be treated as a semantic primitive in the sense of s[yn]onymy, antonymy, and hyponymy.

1995, Jürgen Handke, The Structure of the Lexicon: Human Versus Machine, page 90:

But whereas hyponymy is a member–class relation, reflecting a taxonomy or conceptual hierarchy, meronymy is a part–whole relation, reflecting the existence of complex structures in concrete reality.

1999, Sylvia Adamson, “7: Literary Language”, in Roger Lass, editor, The Cambridge History of the English Language: Volume III: 1476-1776, page 564:

Possession, like meronymy, is described in English (and equivalently in other languages) with the verb to have (A millionaire has money) and the line between possession and part-having is fuzzy at best.[…]Priss (1998) suggests that meronymy might be formalized as an attribution relation, such that has-a-handle-for-a-part would be an attribute of hammer and cup. Thus, the case for separating attribution and possession from meronymy is not strong.

2003, M. Lynne Murphy, Semantic Relations and the Lexicon: Antonymy, Synonymy and Other Paradigms, pages 233–234:

(semantics, philosophy) The relationship of being a constituent part or member of something; a system of meronyms.


paronym

Coined around 1846 from Ancient Greek παρώνυμος (parṓnumos, “derivative”), equivalent to para- + -onym.

der

(semantics) A word derived from the same root or stem as another word; classes include cognates and naturalizations of foreign words.


hypernym

From hyper- (“over”) + -nym (“name”). From Ancient Greek roots; compare Latinate “superordinate term”.

“Musical instrument” is a hypernym of “guitar” because a guitar is a musical instrument: a guitar belongs to a class or type of musical instruments.

Hypernyms of “dog” and “cat” include “mammal”, “pet”, “carnivore”, and “quadruped”.

(semantics) A superordinate word or phrase; a term whose referents form a set which includes as a subset the referents of a subordinate term—as, for example, insect (being a hypernym) for ant.


toponymy

en-noun

toponymy (countable and uncountable, plural toponymies)

toponymies (plural)
toponomy (alternative)

(semantics) Lexicological study of place names; a branch of onomastics.


circular definition

circular definition (plural circular definitions)

Saying that obscenity is indecent and then saying something is indecent if it's obscene is a circular definition.

(semantics) A definition relying directly or indirectly on the term being defined.


coercion

coercion (countable and uncountable, plural coercions)

coercions (plural)
coersion (alternative misspelling)
coërcion (alternative dated)

Inherited from Middle English cohercioun, from Old French cohercion, from Latin coercitiō (“magisterial coercion”), from past participle coercitus of coerceō (“to restrain, coerce”), from co- (“with”) + arceō (“to shut in, enclose”); see coerce.

der

But often the pieces of information do not fit together and have to be shifted in meaning to confirm with the rest of the sentence. These shifts are called coercion

2008, Oliver Bott, “Doing It Again and Again May Be Difficult, But It Depends on What You Are Doing”, in Proceedings of the 27th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, page 63:

...a conversion of mass nouns into count readings according to sorter and portion coercion is only possible if the denotation of a mass noun already comprises minimal parts into which the noun can be subdivided.

2016, Susanne Mohr, “From Accra to Nairobi – the use of pluralized mass nouns in East and West African postcolonial Englishes”, in Daniel Schmidt-Brücken, Susanne Schuster, Marina Wienberg, editors, Aspects of (Post)Colonial Linguistics, Berlin: DeGruyter, →OCLC, page 161:

(linguistics, semantics) The process by which the meaning of a word or other linguistic element is reinterpreted to match the grammatical context.


swear word

swear words (plural)
swearword (alternative)

When I heard swear words from the next room, I decided to keep my distance.

Your kid said nasty swear words to me this morning.

A word considered obscene and vulgar or offensive.

the plurals of all the synonyms for the singular form


referent

For quotations using this term, see Citations:referent.

(semantics) The specific entity in the world that a word or phrase identifies or denotes: what it refers to.


monosemy

monosemic

these two terms are interchangeable variants

(semantics) The property of terms of having a single meaning; absence of ambiguity.

monosèmia

property of terms of having single meaning


synonymic

He intended to publish a flora of the island, and drafted out a synonymic catalogue, into which he inserted from time to time elaborate descriptions drawn up from living specimens of the species which he was able to procure.

1999, J. G. Baker, Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles:

(semantics) Of, relating to, or being a synonym.


dictionary definition

en-noun

dictionary definition (plural dictionary definitions)

conceptual definition

all can [[overlap#Verb|overlap]] with dictionary definition

(semantics) A descriptive definition specifying one of the commonly used meanings of the defined term.


polysemy

polysemy (usually uncountable, plural polysemies)

Fifty years ago the linguist and semanticist Stephen Ullmann wrote that polysemy, the fact that some words have a network of multiple but related meanings, is "the pivot of semantic analysis" […]

2011, Brigitte Nerlich, Polysemy: Flexible Patterns of Meaning in Mind and Language, page 3:

Polysemy proliferates in natural language: Virtually every word is polysemous to some extent.

2017 July 27, Agustín Vicente and Ingrid L. Falkum, “Polysemy”, in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Oxford University Press:

(semantics) The quality characteristic of a polyseme, a sign (such as a word or symbol) that has multiple meanings (senses), often including multiple similar ones.


exocentric

(semantics, of or relating to a compound term) Not having the same semantic referent as the semantic referent of any of its constituent parts.


stipulative definition

stipulative definition (plural stipulative definitions)

(semantics) A definition in which a new or extant term is given a new meaning for the purposes of argument or discussion in a given context.


meronym

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-meronym.wav

From mero- + -onym, from Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “part”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma, “name”).

The word "leaf" is a meronym of the word "tree".

If one starts with some complex whole, like {automobile} or {human_body}, it can be broken down into several levels of meronyms, but many of those meronyms will also be meronyms of other wholes. That is to say, some components serve as parts of many different things: think of all the different mechanisms that have gears.

1998, George A. Miller, “Nouns in WordNet”, in Christiane Fellbaum, editor, Wordnet: An Electronic Lexical Database, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 38:

(semantics, philosophy) A term used to denote a thing that is a part of something else.

metonym

but be aware that some metonyms derive from meronyms; for example, wheels/automobile, jet/jet airplane, head/cow


holonym

Holonyms: semantic network, wordnet, thesaurus

The word "face" is a holonym of the word "eye", which is a holonym of the word "retina".

(semantics, philosophy) A term that denotes the whole of which another term's referent is a part.


double negative

double negative (plural double negatives)

Nuh-nuh-doin'-duh... Nuh-nuh-doin'-duh... We don't need no education...
Yes, you do. You've just used a double negative.

2006 Feb. 17, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4

(rhetoric, usually derogatory) A phrase including two negative words (no, not, never, etc.) especially when used as intensifiers in informal English.

dvojitý zápor

phrase in which there are two negative words


intension

From Latin intēnsiō (“straining, effort; intensifying”), from intēnsus (“stretched”), perfect passive participle of intendō (“strain or stretch toward”).

uder

'Is a plant', 'has a trunk', 'has leaves' are intensions of the concept tree. Its extension is the set of all trees existing in the real world.

This law is, that the intension of our knowledge is in the inverse ratio of its extension.

1859–1860, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

(logic, semantics) Any property or quality connoted by a word, phrase or other symbol, contrasted with actual instances in the real world to which the term applies.


antonymy

en-noun

antonymy (countable and uncountable, plural antonymies)

(semantics) The semantic relation between antonyms; the quality of being antonymous.


polyseme

(semantics) A word or phrase that has multiple meanings, or, more specifically, multiple etymologically related meanings.


definiendum

Borrowed from Latin dēfīniendum, gerund of dēfīniō.

However, most advocates of the importance of real definition have limited the definiendum to certain kinds of things: usually an abstract entity or a concept.

1991, William Thomas Parry, Edward A. Hacker, Aristotelian Logic, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 84:

The objects themselves are the definienda of the definition. The first set of properties through which the definienda are collected together to form a group is called ‘the limiting properties of being the definienda of the definition’.

2013, Edward Craig, editor, Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge, →ISBN, page 198:

(semantics) The term (word or phrase) defined in a definition (whether inside a sentence, as a dictionary entry, or otherwise).


definiens

From Latin, substantive use of dēfīniēns (“[a] defining”), present active participle of dēfīniō.

Yet such predicates will not in general even be interpreted over the domain of objects over which the definientia range.

1977, Nelson Goodman, The Structure of Appearance, 3rd edition, D. Reidel, →ISBN, page XLIV:

In these definitions, then, there is only one part of the definiens, the form (e.g. being a human soul), which is prior to the kind and its matter.

2011, Michail Peramatzis, Priority in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 196:

(semantics) The word or phrase that defines the definiendum in a definition.


blanket term

(idiomatic) A word or phrase that is used to describe multiple groups of related things.


synonymum

From Czech synonymum or Slovak synonymum.

This was introduced as a synonymum for Zeiller’s L. dichotomum (1880, 1886/8), which according to the later Arber’s discussions (see also Crookall 1929) is not identical with the L. dichotomum Stbg.

1950, Bulletin international: Classe des sciences mathématiques, naturelles et de la médecine, Česká akademie věd a umění, page 38:

Herpetocypris palpiger A. G. Lowndes 1923 is a synonymum for Herpetocypris chevreuxi G. O. Sars 1869.

1952, Zoologické a Entomologické Listy, page 114:

The specimens were determined originally as Romeria gracilis, but according to Geitler (1932) and Komárek (1958) it is a synonymum for Romeria elegans, as its dimmensions^([sic]) lie within the range known for R. elegans.

1964, Sbornik: Scientific papers. Technology of water. Oddil technologie vody, page 515:

The term labor pains is being commonly used as a synonymum for the expulsive contractions of the uterine muscles.

1967, Acta universitatis palackianae olomucensis, page 165:

In this sense, the effective development is a synonymum for optimum development.

It is a synonymum for the term of antisaprobity (B. & Z. CYRUS, 1947) with a completed definition.

1973, Ergebnisse der Limnologie, page 102:

Exactly the above mentioned terms “other pressure” or “advantages of any kind” constitute the synonymums for the ideological subversion by imperialism of the socialist countries.

Obviously on the basis of this assumption, Popescu-Gorj et al. (1958) consider S. ortalidiformis Led. a synonymum for Ch. annellata f. oxybeliformis (H.-S.).

1983, Acta Universitatis Agriculturae: Facultas Agronomica, Vysoká škola zemědělská, page 211:

Antitoxin is (a) the snake venom (b) an antibody (c) a viral product (d) a synonymum for toxoid

1983, Acta Universitatis Carolinae: Medica, Universita Karlova, page 207:

The fact that linear spaces are infinite sets is not too important here permutation is then a synonymum for the bijection.

1983, Czechoslovak Journal of Physics, page 728:

When speaking about edges, we use a notation (x, y) to be a synonymum for {x, y}.

1985, Annual Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science: STACS, page 199:

This then is the place to introduce methodological concepts of statistics into the vocabulary of inductive logic, i.e. to define in it concepts like “empirical means (of a sample)”, “empirical variance (of a sample)”, “empirical dispersion (of a sample)”, “true mean (of the population)” (being a synonymum for “degree of uniformity”), “true variance (of the population)”, “true dispersion (of the population)” etc., as well as the most important methodological concepts “amount of confidence probability”, “confidence interval” and “length of the confidence interval” (being a synonymum for “unexactness of the estimation”.

1986, Atti del Congresso logica e filosofia della scienza, oggi: Epistemologia e logica induttiva, page 85:

The concept of personality was treated primitively by them — as a “great man“, or it was taken as a synonymum for the terms “person” or “individual”.

1991, Sborník prací Filosofické fakulty brněnské university: Řada historická. C, page 132:

Despite that Crosskey (1986) and Zwick ( 1995 ) consider them a synonymum for reptans along with the stress referring to its variability (Niesiolowski 1987) and electrophoretic indistinguishability, Knoz (pers. com.) considers the Central European populations of reptans and galeratum as different.

1992, Acta Zoologica Universitatis Comenianae, Univerzita Komenského, page 58:

In this connection we must stress that „vegetative rapprochement“ belongs to Lysenko's terminology as a synonymum for „vegetative hybridisation“.

2004, Anna Matalová, Jiří Sekerák, Genetics Behind the Iron Curtain: Its Repudiation and Reinstitualisation in Czechoslovakia, page 18:


technical term

Technical terms like ferrite, perlite, graphite, and hardenite were bandied to and fro, and when Paget glibly brought out such a rare exotic as ferro-molybdenum, Benson forgot that he was a master ship-builder,[…]

1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 4, in Well Tackled!:

A word that has a specific meaning within a specific field of expertise.

專門術語 /专门术语

word that has a specific meaning within a specific field of expertise according to the context


cohyponym

cohyponyms (plural)
co-hyponym (alternative)

Seventy-two subjects attempted to recall the object nouns of seven once-exposed sentences given as retrieval cues the subject noun of each sentence and four other words related to the subject noun. The related cues were a remote superordinate, a close superordinate, a remote cohyponym, and a close cohyponym of the subject noun. Four predictions about differences in effectiveness of these cues, derived from the Katz and Fodor and the Quillian theories of semantics, were confirmed. There was one case about which the theories made different predictions. Consistent with Quillian's theory, but contrary to the Katz and Fodor theory, significantly more words were recalled when the cue was a close rather than a remote superordinate.

1972 December 1, Richard C. Anderson, “Semantic organization and retrieval of information from sentences”, in Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, volume 11, number 6, →DOI, pages 794-800:

coordinate term
coordinate term#English:_Q4118257


complementarity

complementarity (countable and uncountable, plural complementarities)

For complementarity, there are entailments both from affirmative sentences to the corresponding negative sentences (which is what ordinary antonymy allows) and from negative sentences to the corresponding affirmative sentences. [...] That light is on entails That light is not off. That light is not on entails That light is off.

2005, Andrew John Merrison, Aileen Bloomer, Patrick Griffiths, Christopher J. Hall, Introducing Language in Use, London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 112:

(linguistics, philosophy, semantics) A semantic relationship between two words wherein negative use of one entails the affirmative of the other with no gradability; the relation of binary antonyms.


differentia

/dɪfəˈɹɛnʃɪə/

From Latin differentia. Doublet of difference.

That character, it seems to me, should be regarded as the practically important differentia of religion for our purpose; and just what it is can easily be brought out by comparing the mind of an abstractly conceived Christian with that of a moralist similarly conceived.

1902, William James, “Lecture II: Circumscription of the Topic”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 45:

If genera are different and co-ordinate, their differentiae are themselves different in kind. Take as an instance the genus ‘animal’ and the genus ‘knowledge’. ‘With feet’, ‘two-footed’, ‘winged’, ‘aquatic’, are differentiae of ‘animal’; the species of knowledge are not distinguished by the same differentiae.

1928, E. M. Edghill, Categories, translation of original by Aristotle:

In the case of a word like “surfboard,” the differentiae seem pretty clear. How is this board different from all other boards?

2017, Kory Stamper, Word By Word, Vintage, published 2018, page 116:

(logic, semantics, taxonomy) A distinguishing feature which marks a species off from other members of the same genus.


ostensive definition

ostensive definition (plural ostensive definitions)

(semantics) A process of binding the meaning to the defined term by pointing out examples and counterexamples: definition by exemplification.


definition by pointing

definition by pointing (plural definitions by pointing)

The peculiar advantages of definition by pointing are only two. First, it is available before any other method is, namely, at the beginning of each symbolizer's life.

Ampere is likewise incapable of definition by pointing and has to be defined ...

1954, F.A. Philbrick, Understanding English: An Introduction to Semantics:

He argues that independent of any verbal definitions, we know the meaning of blue and green, say through a definition by pointing.

1964, Ronald Christensen, Foundations of Inductive Reasoning:

Closely related to definition by pointing is definition by examples. Using this method to define "suspension bridge," one might mention the Brooklyn Bridge, ...

1976, Peter T. Manicas, Arthur N. Kruger, Logic: The Essentials:

Ostensive definition
ostensive definition


recursive definition

recursive definition (plural recursive definitions)

(semantics) A definition of a term within which the term itself appears, and that is well-founded, avoiding an infinite regress.


intensional definition

intensional definition (plural intensional definitions)

(semantics) A definition that gives the meaning of a term by specifying all the properties of the things to which the term applies.


extensional definition

extensional definition (plural extensional definitions)

(semantics) A definition of a term that specifies its extension, that is, every object that falls under the definition.


enumerative definition

enumerative definition (plural enumerative definitions)

(semantics) A definition that exhaustively lists all the objects that fall under the defined term.


absent referent

absent referent (plural absent referents)

(semantics) The condition of a sign which has an empty, absent, non-existent, paradoxical, hypothetical, supernatural, or undefined referent, such as nothing, null, vacuum, or void.


operational definition

operational definition (plural operational definitions)

The operational definition of a well-behaved student might be set at the threshold of "no more than 2 detentions in each semester".

To divide the spectrum of spicy sauces into three categories of "mildly spicy", "moderately spicy", and "extremely spicy", we set the operational definitions of "mild", "moderate", and "extreme" as (a) 0 to 3 × 10³ Scoville units, (b) more than 3 × 10³ up to 100 × 10³, and (c) more than 100 × 10³, respectively.

The position of certain recent publications is examined and criticized because they seem to imply (a) that under some circumstances ambiguous concepts are more useful than precise ones and (b) that operational difinitions are of limited usefulness in sociology because of their dependence upon quantitative characteristics, whereas some items referred to by sociological concepts are "essentially qualitative in nature." Both assumptions are here questioned.

1942, George A. Lundberg, Operational Definitions in the Social Scienceshttps://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/219004

Those sociologists who advocate greater use of operational definitions have been challenged to define "operational definition" operationally. This paper attempts to meet that challenge.

1943, Stuart C. Dodd and Ethel Shanas, Operational Definitions Operationally Definedhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/2770015

By analysing the practical utility of definitions of life in scientific practice, we propose that definitions of life in these domains should be considered in a non-standard and weaker sense, as operational definitions. This choice of terminology is inspired by the use of the same term in the scientific literatures of Origins of Life and Synthetic Biology (e.g., Fleischaker, 1990; Luisi 1998). We use the term ‘operational’ in a wide sense, referring both to (1) the possibility to define something by means of operations (e.g., defining an entity by measuring or building it following a specific procedure), and (2) the idea that the contents of the definition (e.g., the conditions for life) can be operationalised for empirical research, that is, can be built, manipulated and tested in the laboratory.

2017, Leonardo Bich & Sara Green, Is defining life pointless? Operational definitions at the frontiers of Biologyhttps://philarchive.org/rec/BICIDL

A showing of something — such as a variable, term, or object — in terms of the specific process or set of validation tests used to determine its presence and quantity.

operacionální definice

definition in terms of operations or measurements


conceptual definition

conceptual definition (plural conceptual definitions)

(semantics) A definition in terms of concepts, instead of in terms of the results of measuring procedures or exemplification alone.


inductive definition

inductive definition (plural inductive definitions)

recursive definition
recursive definition


lexical item

For quotations using this term, see Citations:lexical item.

He also realized that by comparing different types of text you may be able to spot "a different density ( repetition rate ) of lexical items, and different degrees of cohesion, in the short story and in the novel.

1993, Roman Kopytko, Polite Discourse in Shakespeare's English, page 396:

It is not surprising that this is a very common structure in language, because it allows the flexibility that was identified earlier in this paper as essential for an adequate lexical item.

1998, Edda Weigand, Contrastive Lexical Semantics, page 22:

The meaning of lexical items may be described in terms of combinations of semantic features.

2007, Kristel Proost ·, Conceptual Structure in Lexical Items, page 114:

Thus there are 3751 lexical items covered in total. Taking into account polysemy, there are 4315 separate senses.

2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, →DOI, page 490:

(semantics) A term (that is, a word or sequence of words) that acts as a unit of meaning, including words, phrases, phrasal verbs and proverbs; exemplified by cat, traffic light, take care of, by-the-way, and don't count your chickens before they hatch.


lexical unit

(semantics) A pairing of a word or phrase with one of its meanings.


homonymy

homonymy (countable and uncountable, plural homonymies)

(semantics) The property of being a homonym.


hyponymy

hyponymy (countable and uncountable, plural hyponymies)

By isolating these two main types of relation, hyponymy and incompatibility, we can characterize the relations between a large web of items.

1977, Ruth Kempson, Semantic Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 86:

(semantics) The semantic relation between hyponyms; the quality of being hyponymous.


hypernymy

hypernymy (countable and uncountable, plural hypernymies)

(semantics) The semantic relation between hypernyms; the quality of being hypernymous.


coordinate term

coordinate term (plural coordinate terms)

The words oak, maple, spruce, and linden are coordinate terms beneath the hypernym of tree.

The terms HDA, LAMP, MDA, NASBA, RPA, SDA, and TMA are coordinate terms beneath the hypernymic term isothermal nucleic acid amplification test.

(semantics) A term (word or noun phrase) that shares a hypernym (or hypernymic noun phrase) with another: that is, one that names another type (kind) within the same class.

cohipònim

a term which shares a hypernym with another

Wiktionary:Semantic relations § Coordinate term


nominatum

However, it is certain that whoever seriously regards the sentence either as true or false also attributes to the name “Odysseus” a nominatum, not only a sense; […]

1987, Anna Whiteside, Michael Issacharoff, On Referring in Literature, page 71:

(semantics) Something that is named; the referent of a name or noun.


holonymy

From holo- + -onymy (compare Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”), ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”)).

The relation between the terms ‘foot’ and ‘heel’ is that of holonymy, since one of the parts of a foot is a heel.

(semantics, philosophy) A semantic relation that exists between a term denoting a whole (the holonym) and a term denoting a part that pertains to the whole (the meronym).

(semantics) The quality or nature of being the whole in a holonymous relation.


troponymy

(semantics) The semantic relation between troponyms


compositionality

(especially logic, semantics, mathematics) The property of being compositional.


designatum

I am inclined to hold that if there is a plurality of objects that fall under the designatum of a term, then that should be sufficient (though not necessary) to conclude that that is a general term, even when it has a singular occurrence in a sentence.

2007, Ilhan Inan, “Rigid general terms and essential predicates”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 140, number 2, page 225:

(semantics) That which is named or designated by a linguistic term.


inferentialist

en-adj

inferentialist (comparative more inferentialist, superlative most inferentialist)

more inferentialist (comparative)
most inferentialist (superlative)

From inferential + -ist. Coined by the philosopher Robert Brandom to describe his own theory, and since applied more widely.

This, I suggest, is why two-dimensionalism requires an inferentialist account of recognition.

2008 January 8, Markos Valaris, “Two-dimensionalism and the epistemology of recognition”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 142, number 3, →DOI:

(philosophy, semantics) Of, pertaining to or supporting a belief in the primary importance of inference to any account of meaning


complementary antonym

en-noun

complementary antonym (plural complementary antonyms)

(semantics) A term whose meaning is the complement of another term, in an either-or fashion, such as mortal in relation to immortal.

Complementary (also called contradictory) antonyms are those for which the assertion of one entails the negation of the other and vice versa, as in (17).
a. That integer is even. → That integer is not odd.
b. That integer is not odd. → That integer is even.

2010, M. Lynne Murphy, Lexical Meaning, page 120:

(linguistics, philosophy, semantics) One of a pair of words wherein affirmative use of one entails the negative of the other with no gradability.


binary antonym

complementary antonym
complementary antonym


relational antonym

relational antonym (plural relational antonyms)

(semantics) A term that, together with another term, forms a pair of opposite role names in a relationship, such as parent and child.

конверсив

a term that forms a pair of opposite role names in a relationship


gradable antonym

gradable antonym (plural gradable antonyms)

Three types are commonly identified: gradable antonyms, contradictory or complementary antonyms, and converses. [...] Gradable antonyms include pairs like the following: ¶ beautiful ugly ¶ expensive cheap ¶ fast slow

2000, Howard Jackson, Etienne Zé Amvela, Words, Meaning and Vocabulary, page 99:

(linguistics, philosophy, semantics) One of a pair of terms that denotes one end of a scale while the other term denotes the other end, such as long and short.


DSM

distributional semantic model
distributional semantic model#English

(semantics) Initialism of distributional semantic model.


eponymy

eponymy (usually uncountable, plural eponymies)

(semantics) The semantic relation of eponyms; the quality of being eponymous.


antonymously

en-adv

antonymously (comparative more antonymously, superlative most antonymously)

more antonymously (comparative)
most antonymously (superlative)


paronymous

(semantics) Having the same root or derivation; conjugate.

Ethology, ethnology, etiology, etymology, and entomology are paronymous.

(semantics) Having a similar sound, but different orthography and different meaning.

parònim

having a similar sound, but different orthography and different meaning


summum genus

Summum genus, in its strictest sense, is that all-extensive term under which every object of whatever kind may be classed, and of every one of which it may be affirmatively predicated: the word which is generally used to denote such genus is substance, or, as some call it, being. ... ; thus by ornithologist, bird would be regarded as the summum genus under which he would arrange the different subdivisions of birds ...

1827, John Huyshe, A Treatise on Logic, on The Basis of Aldrich:

(logic, semantics) The highest, most all-inclusive genus; the one that is not a species of any other genus.


hyperonym

(semantics) Hypernym; superordinate term.


free indirect speech

(linguistics, grammar, semantics) A style of indirect speech which imitates direct speech, and converted to third person.


as in

That's B as in boy.

(idiomatic, conjunctive) In the sense of.


predicand

For example, in They appear uneasy, the property of being uneasy is predicated of (the referent of) they, which is therefore the predicand.

(semantics) The referent of the phrase of which another constituent (the predicate) is predicated.


monoseme

Moreover, a word that is a monoseme in general language can be used equivocally in a special language.

1982, FID/CR Report Series, number 20, International Federation for Documentation, Committee on Classification Research, page 3:

As a dictionary search makes clear, preciously few ordinary words are monosemes, but they do exist: hippopotamus may be an example.

1993, Fred Riggs, “Social Science Terminology: Basic Problems and proposed Solutions”, in Helmi B. Sonneveld, Kurt L. Loening, editors, Terminology: Applications in Interdisciplinary Communication, →ISBN, page 207:

The simplest kind of word is a monoseme […] So many words develop additional meanings over time that it’s quite difficult to think of examples, but three possibilities are telephone, word-processor, giraffe – all fairly recent additions to the English vocabulary.

2015, Christian Kay, Kathryn Allan, English Historical Semantics, →ISBN, page 41:

(semantics) A monosemous term; a term with one meaning.

A monoseme in the semantic respect is less than a word but in the syntactical configuration — more.

1972, Linguistics: An International Review, number 77, page 71:

Our observations made it clear that the new meanings, which emerged in the inner forms of the lexical units, had taken root under direct “pressure” of the monosemes of the confronted and identified counterpart in the source-language.

1977, Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress of Linguists, page 229:

Thus, we suggest that in semantic structures of standard words there emerge nonstandard monosemes which are stylistically marked or socially determined and dependent on contexts and extra-linguistic situations.

1980, Vladimir A. Khomiakov, “Two typological features of nonstandard English and Russian vocabularies”, in New Zealand Slavonic Journal, number 2, →JSTOR, page 62:

In many modern studies the underlying meaning of a preposition such as over is seen as a group of related meanings, a sort of molecule. Others see it as a single meaning, a monoseme, or ideal meaning, Jakobson’s Gesamtbedeutung […]

2006, John Hewson, Vit Bubenik, From Case to Adposition: The development of configurational syntax in Indo-European languages, →ISBN, page ix:

(semantics) An underlying meaning of a word, more general than a sememe.


polysemically

polysemically (comparative more polysemically, superlative most polysemically)

more polysemically (comparative)
most polysemically (superlative)

Even though some names or words polysemically carry sexual meanings, this does not automatically mean that every usage of them in literary texts, even those of a pornographic nature, has a sexual meaning, either explicitly or punningly.

2011, Patrick Spedding, James Lambert, “Fanny Hill, Lord Fanny, and the Myth of Metonymy”, in Studies in Philology, volume 108, number 1, page 113:

(semantics) In a polysemic manner; with multiple meanings.


infima species

Every infima species of the adaptation can be related unambiguously to a[n] infima species of the standard.

1993, Willem Hirs, “XV: The Use of Terminological Principles and Methods in Medicine”, in Helmi B. Sonneveld, Kurt Loening, editors, Terminology: Applications in Interdisciplinary Communication, page 239:

Combining Leibniz's view about species differentiation with his view that completed individuals constitute infima species, [DM 9; N 326] yields a promising speculation as to why he might hold that any change in property of our Adam would be a different person.

1998, R. O. Savage, Real Alternatives, Leibniz's Metaphysics of Choice, page 95:

So two things are pivotal in the Categories account of primary ousiai: the idea that the things that are ontologically fundamental are basic subjects, and the idea that the ontologically basic entities are instances or members of their infimae species.

2008, Michael J. Loux, Primary Ousia: An Essay on Aristotle's Metaphysics Z and H, page 4:

But when Pratt gives illustrations of his claim, he selects different infimae species under the genus 'material substance'.

2009, James Porter Moreland, The Recalcitrant Imago Dei, page 124:

(logic, philosophy, semantics) The narrowest of species; one that that is not a genus to anything else.


endonymy

We can also briefly note that both a sense description of the type given above and the use of meaning postulates can be compared to the notion of endonymy, which was introduced by Cruse (1986: 123 f). It is intended to describe the relation between two lexical items when the meaning of one of them would seem to be included in that of the other.

1993, Christina Alm-Arvius, The English verb see: a study in multiple meaning, page 18:

Evens et al. (1983) have a provenience relation (water/well), and Cruse (1986) has a proportional series relation made up of recurring endonymy (university/lecturer/student, prison/warden/convict, hospital/doctor/patient).

2003, Jane Morris, Clare Beghtol, Graeme Hirst, Term relationships and their contribution to text semantics and information literacy through lexical cohesion:

Strictly speaking, endonymy is such a general meaning relation that it would cover hyponymy and certain part–whole relationships, e.g. finger and hand, as well as the kind of examples just listed.

2011, Cliff Goddard, Semantic Analysis: A Practical Introduction, →ISBN, page 200:

(semantics) A relationship of semantic inclusion, such as that between "store" and "shopping mall".


converse antonym

en-noun

converse antonym (plural converse antonyms)

Converse antonyms describe the same relation or activity from different perspectives, and follow patterns like: if X is p to Y, then Y is q to X. [...]
a. Bill is Madeline's parent. → Madeline is Bill's child.
b. John gives to Oxfam. → Oxfam receives from John.
c. Scotland is above England. → England is below Scotland.

2010, M. Lynne Murphy, Lexical Meaning, page 120:

(linguistics, philosophy, semantics) Either of a pair of terms that name or describe a single relationship from opposite perspectives, such as parent versus child.


contradictory antonym

contradictory antonym (plural contradictory antonyms)

complementary antonym
complementary antonym#English

(linguistics, philosophy, semantics) complementary antonym


nonsynonymy

The nonsynonymy of "A woman strikes a man" and "A woman is struck by a man" is readily aligned with the nonysynonymy of "to strike" and "to be struck"

1966 April, "Paul Ziff", "The Nonsynonymy of Active and Passive Sentences", The Philosophical Review, page 230

(semantics) The quality of not being synonymous.


cohyponymous

Being or relating to cohyponyms (coordinate terms): sharing a hypernym with another word or phrase.


taxonym

Ash-blonde and strawberry blonde are satisfactory taxonyms of blonde, but they are by no means the optimal subcategories of BLONDE.

2004, William Croft, D. Alan Cruse, Cognitive Linguistics, →ISBN, page 149:

They conclude that a good taxonym must have as its core a specification of the core of the hyponym.

2009, William C. Ritchie, Tej K. Bhatia -, The New Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, →ISBN, page 201:

The proposal in connection with taxonymy is that a taxonym must (a) further specify a highlighted feature of the hypernym and (b) must similarly highlight it. From this it will follow that the reason stallion and foal are not good taxonyms of horse, is that they highlight features not highlighted in horse; a similar explanation holds for blonde and woman; likewise, prostitute is not a good taxonym of woman because it highlights profession, but is a good taxonym of sex-worker, because it specifies further and highlights what is highlighted in sex-worker, namely, type of work.

2013, R. Green, C.A. Bean, Sung Hyon Myaeng, The Semantics of Relationships: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, →ISBN, page 15:

(semantics) A hyponym that differs only by properties that are highlighted in the corresponding hypernym.


nominative determinism

A little-known aspect of pop sociology called nominative determinism intrigued Rory Honeyman for a very good reason. Except for a concatenation of historical accidents, he would have fallen under its purview himself.

2003, Paul Di Filippo, chapter 2, in Spondulix: A Romance of Hoboken, Open Road Integrated Media:

I need hardly add that he is a prime example of that scientific principle known as nominative determinism — being a man who uses telescopes, called I. Glass!

2010, Steve Ringwood, Astronomers Anonymous: Getting Help with the Puzzles and Pitfalls of Practical Astronomy, Springer, page ix:

Nominative determinism is usually applied to the idea that someone's name may influence their future. Would Usain Bolt have run as swiftly with the name “Usain Plod”?

2016, Caroline Barchelder, The Gender Conversation: Evangelical Perspectives on Gender, Scripture, and the Christian Life, Morling Press, page 218

(psychology, semantics) A supposed tendency for people to become active in subjects that relate or correspond to their names.


grammatical aspect

grammatical aspect (plural grammatical aspects)

While lexical aspect presents information about the inherent lexical properties of the verb and verb phrase, grammatical aspect, on the other hand, signals the boundaries of an event.

2010, Miren Hodgson, Telicity and the Syntax-Semantics of the Object and Subject, page 11:

Within the framework of a distinction between grammatical and lexical aspect, the category grammatical aspect, which is usually realized in the morphology of the verb, includes the imperfective and the perfective aspect, whereas the lexical aspect concerns the situation types (Aktionsarten) of the verb, i.e. it is inherent to the semantics of the verb.

2014, Barbara Meisterernst, Tense and Aspect in Han Period Chinese, page 15:

(grammar, semantics) The aspect of a verb phrase (verb group) or other predicate – its temporal structure or relationship to the time of use – marked through any of various grammatical elements, as distinguished from lexical aspect.


comeronym

The representation of positive maleness in Victorian narratives strongly connects the active and physical to either the superordinate face or its comeronyms eyes or mouth, wherein, according to the authors, can be detected evidence of the young hero's superior moral qualities to match his physical attractiveness.

2002, Murray Knowles, Kirsten Malmkjaer, “Traditional juvenile fiction”, in Language and Control in Children's Literature, Routledge, →ISBN:

(semantics) A word or phrase that shares a holonym with another word or phrase, naming a part of the same whole.


partonym

Furthermore, we infer that the kicking was done with one of Mary's feet, since we know that Mary is a human and humans have feet, or, to put it differently, the script MARY inherits the partonyms of its hyperonym HUMAN.

2001, Salvatore Attardo, “Semantic Analysis and Humor Analysis”, in Humorous Texts, Walter de Gruyter, published 2010, →ISBN, page 55:

A word or lexical item indicating that it is 'part-of' some whole. Thus, "leg" is a body partonym, and "root" a plant partonym. Thus, partonymy refers to the phenomenon of referring to parts of a whole through specialised terms.

2013, Roy Ellen, “Variation and Uniformity in the Construction of Biological Knowledge Across Cultures”, in Helaine Selin, editor, Nature Across Cultures, footnote 3, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 69:


by extension

(linguistics, semantics) In the broad sense; broadly.


co-hyponym

(semantics) Alternative form of cohyponym; Synonym of coordinate term.


propositionalism

The usual way to defend propositionalism is to say that ascriptions of intentional states by intensional transitives can be analysed to reveal covert material which shows their true propositional attitude structure.

2013, Tim Crane, The Objects of Thought, page 108:

The basic tenet of propositionalism is that every mental intentional attitude, every thought, pro-attitude, belief, desire, perception, adoration, resentment, contemplation, etc. is a fundamentally proposition-involving attitude.

2018, Alex Grzankowski, Michelle Montague, Non-Propositional Intentionality, page 3:

(semantics) The view all intentionality is propositional; the belief that there can be no meaning without a proposition.


intensionalism

The first step in showing the irrelevance of Mates's problem is to separate Frege's intensionalism from intensionalism per se .

1986, Ernest LePore, Truth and Interpretation, page 62:

Intensionalism in modern logic and linguistics begins in the way he demonstrated the point. For as "the Morning Star" and "the Evening Star" have different senses—i.e., objective linguistic content—so do statements.

1999, William C. Dowling, The Senses of the Text, page 47:

It is sometimes supposed that extensional propositions—in particular Russellian propositions, which are adopted in some neo-Millian views about proper names—are incompatible with intensionalism and presuppositionalism.

2004, Jerrold J. Katz, Sense, Reference, and Philosophy, page 115:

(semantics) The belief that language acquires meaning from thought or belief, which is fundamentally non-linguistic, and that propositions are therefore independent of language.


sententialism

Sententialism does not entail that only verbal creatures can enjoy a mental language. Neither does it presuppose that an intelligent creature's language of thought must be its language of communication, […]

1989, J. Christopher Maloney, The Mundane Matter of the Mental Language, page 111:

Thinking, according to sententialism, may then be like quoting. To quote an English sentence is to issue, in a certain way, a token of a given English sentence type: […]

2015, Richard John Kosciejew, The Pursuing Presence of Facts:

(semantics) The theory that cognition is based on and can be represented as sentences in mentalese.


troponymic

A method of sense resolution is proposed that is based on WordNet, an on-line lexical database that incorporates semantic relations (synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, meronymy, causal and troponymic entailment) as labeled pointers between word senses. With WordNet, it is easy to retrieve sets of semantically related words, a facility that will be used for sense resolution during text processing, as follows. […]

1991, George A. Miller, Daniel A. Teibel, “A proposal for lexical disambiguation”, in HLT Proceedings, volumes Human Language Technology: HLT '91: Proceedings of the Workshop on Speech and Natural Language, 1991, →DOI, pages 395–399:

Table 1. Semantic relations identified in VerbOcean. Siblings in the WordNet column refers to terms with the same troponymic parent, e.g. swim and fly.

2004, Timothy Chklovski, Patrick Pantel, “VerbOcean: mining the web for fine-grained semantic verb relations”, in Proceedings of the 2004 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, Association for Computational Linguistics, pages 33–40:

(semantics) Of, relating to, or being a troponym.


troponymous

Example (16-a) is a synset pair in WordNet standing in hypernymy-troponymy relation. This thesis hereafter uses the arrow to indicate troponymous relation of which the word to the left of the arrow is the hypernym and the word to the right is the troponym. Hence, under a certain sense in WordNet, 'anesthetize' is the hypernym of 'cocainize' or 'to cocainize' is a way to 'anesthetize'. After mapping through ECTED [English-Chinese Translation Equivalents Database], the program returned Chinese verb pairs as (16-b) shows.

2009, Chiao-Shan Lo, Automatic Labeling of Hypernymy-Troponymy Relation for Chinese Verbs. Master's thesis at NTNU, National Taiwan Normal University, retrieved 2023-03-25, page 72:


enantiosemy

From enantio- + sem- (from Ancient Greek σῆμα "token, sign") + -y, modelled after polysemy.

af

(semantics) A type of polysemy in which a word can be read as two opposing senses; contronymy.


cohyponymy

Hansen et al. (1982, 202) mention the following semantic relations that systematically obtain between the senses of polysemic words: (conceptual) hyponymy, hyperonymy and cohyponymy on the one hand, and (figurative) metonymy and metaphor on the other.

2013, Aleš Klégr, “The limits of polysemy: enantiosemy”, in Linguistica Pragensia, volume 23, number 2, Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Arts, page 9:

A first step in this direction was taken by Heylen et al. (2008), who focused on a larger set of elementary relations, including synonymy, hypernymy and hyponymy, in addition to the composed relation of cohyponymy.

2015, Olivier Ferret, “Typing Relations in Distributional Thesauri”, in Núria Gala, Reinhard Rapp, Gemma Bel-Enguix, editors, Language Production, Cognition, and the Lexicon (Text, Speech and Language Technology; 48), Cham: Springer, →DOI, page 124:

(semantics, linguistics) The semantic relation between cohyponyms (coordinate terms); the quality of being cohyponymous (coordinate).


comeronymy

If Hansen et al. (1982, 203–204) are correct in including the sense of exclusion, i.e. cohyponymy, among the word‑internal semantic relations[…], then the question arises whether the other form of the exclusion relationship, comeronymy, could not be found among polysemes as well.

2013, Aleš Klégr, “The limits of polysemy: enantiosemy”, in Linguistica Pragensia, volume 23, number 2, Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Arts, page 21:

Finally, path types are defined as sequences of elementary relations represented by their macro identifier of Table 5, with two specific notations: […] second, two subsequences corresponding to well-known lexical relations are replaced by a specific identifier: h for the subsequence GG⁻¹, which corresponds to the cohyponymy relation and m for the subsequence CC⁻¹, which corresponds to the comeronymy relation.

2015, Olivier Ferret, “Typing Relations in Distributional Thesauri”, in Núria Gala, Reinhard Rapp, Gemma Bel-Enguix, editors, Language Production, Cognition, and the Lexicon (Text, Speech and Language Technology; 48), Cham: Springer, →DOI, page 128:

(semantics, linguistics) The semantic relation between comeronyms (names for parts of a whole); the quality of being comeronymous.


autohyponymy

By surface analysis, auto- + hyponymy, or, by surface analysis, autohyponym + -y.

First of all he speaks of linear polysemy, i.e. relations of specialization (or generalization) between polysemic senses which include autohyponymy (dog: animal species, male of this species) and autosuperordination (i.e. autohyperonymy; man: human male, human race) […]

2013, Aleš Klégr, “The limits of polysemy: enantiosemy”, in Linguistica Pragensia, volume 23, number 2, Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Arts, pages 9–10:

(semantics, linguistics) The quality or state of being an autohyponym; the semantic relation between senses of a word such that one sense is hyponymous to another.


autohyponymous

By surface analysis, auto- + hypo- + -nym + -ous.

surf

Being or relating to an autohyponym: a polysemous word (that is, one with multiple senses) such that one sense is a hyponym of another.


comeronymous

From co- + meronymous or comeronym + -ous.

The co-meronymous elements that compose the driving factors are technology, the related mobility of people, goods and ideas, and a liberal trading environment. Each of these co-meronymous nominals is devoid of human agency.

2000 July, Bernard J. McKenna, Philip Graham, “Technocratic Discourse: A Primer”, in Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, volume 30, number 3, →DOI, page 242:

The meronymy relation can be understood as the part-of relation. For example, in Figure 1b ‘set of activities’, ‘deliverables’ and ‘milestones’ have been analysed as being part-of ‘project management’ and therefore in a co-meronymous relation to each other.

2005, Philip Windridge, Bernadette Sharp, Geoff Thompson, “Symbolic Knowledge Representation in Transcript Based Taxonomies”, in Chin-Sheng Chen, Joaquim Filipe, Isabel Seruca, José Cordeiro, editors, ICEIS 2005: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, volume 2, SciTePress, →DOI, →ISBN, page 268:

[…] the question arises whether the other form of the exclusion relationship, comeronymy, could not be found among polysemes as well. There is no mention of this possibility in the literature but, as there is no logical obstacle to comeronymous polysemes, this hypothesis could be worth exploring.

Being or relating to comeronyms (names for fellow parts of the same whole).


subtrigging

(semantics) The phenomenon whereby free-choice items in episodic sentences require a modifier. For instance, "Any student signed the petition" is not an acceptable sentence, but "Any student who went to the meeting signed the petition" is acceptable.


computational semantics

computational linguistics
computational linguistics

(computational linguistics) The study of automating the creation and interpretation of meaning representations in natural language expressions.


temporal deixis

(semantics) A type of deixis concerning the various times involved in and referred to in an utterance.


distributional semantics

(computational linguistics) A field of research focused on quantifying and categorizing the semantic similarities between linguistic items.


distributional–relational database

en-noun

distributional–relational database (plural distributional–relational databases)

database management system
database management system

(computational linguistics) A type of database management system that enhances the semantics of structured data by using distributional word-vector representations.


generative lexicon

(computational linguistics) A linguistic semantics theory that challenges purely verb-centric approaches to compositionality.


minimal recursion semantics

minimal recursion semantics (uncountable)

(computational linguistics) A computational semantic framework employed in typed feature structure formalisms.


speech time

speech time (countable and uncountable, plural speech times)

(linguistics, semantics) The time of an utterance of a sentence relative to the tense that is interpreted.


coding time

coding time (countable and uncountable, plural coding times)

(linguistics, semantics) The moment in time of an utterance or the writing of a message.


receiving time

receiving time (countable and uncountable, plural receiving times)

(linguistics, semantics) The moment in time in which a receiver hears or reads a message.


reference time

reference time (countable and uncountable, plural reference times)

(linguistics, semantics) The moment in time in which the speaker is using as the imagined or explicit reference point for an utterance.


autohypernymy

By surface analysis, auto- + hypernymy, or, by surface analysis, autohypernym + -y.

(semantics, linguistics) The semantic relation between senses of a word such that one sense is hypernymous to another.


automeronymy

By surface analysis, auto- + meronymy, or, by surface analysis, automeronym + -y.

6.4.1.2 Automeronymy / Automeronymy occurs in a parallel way to autohyponymy, except that the more specific reading denotes subpart rather than a subtype, although it is by no means always easy to determine whether we should be talking about automeronymy or autoholonymy, that is to say, it is not easy to see which is the more basic use. An example of this may be door, which can refer to either the whole set-up, with jambs, lintel, threshold, hinges, and the leaf panel itself, as in Go through that door, or just the leaf, as in Take the door off its hinges. Notice the zeugma in the following, which confirms the discreteness of the specific reading: ?We took the door off its hinges and walked through it.

2000, D. Alan Cruse, “6: Contextual variability of word meaning”, in Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics (Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics), Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 111:

The core meaning of tangan in Malay can be translated into English either as 'hand' or as 'arm'. This implies differences in the lexical field for the human body in the two languages: Malay employs a single body part term for senses that are conveyed in English by two distinct terms. This is a case of what Cruse (2000: 187) refers to as automeronymy 'that is, when part and immediate whole have the same name'. It would usually be quite clear from the context as to which part tangan refers to.

2005, Jonathan Charteris-Black, “9 Cultural Resonance in English and Malay Figurative Phrases: The case of 'hand'”, in Anne Ife, Janet Cotterill, editors, Language Across Boundaries: British Association for Applied Linguistics Meeting, British Association for Applied Linguistics, →ISBN, page 156:

Polysemous words can be further divided based on whether there is a linear or nonlinear relationship between their senses (Cruse, 2011). Linear polysemy describes words where one sense covers a more specific area within the area covered by the other, as is the case when one sense denotes a subtype or part of the other. Autohyponymy and automeronymy are two types of linear polysemy. Autohyponymy occurs when a sense denotes a subtype of another sense. For example, drink has two senses, a general sense "to consume a liquid" as in You shouldn't drink anything before surgery., and a more specific sense "to consume alcohol" as in You shouldn't drink while driving. Automeronymy occurs when a sense denotes a subpart of another sense. For example, arm has two senses, one that refers to the whole arm as in She lost an arm in the accident., and another that refers to a part of the arm as in The cat scratched her arm., which typically means the non-hand part of the arm. Nonlinear polysemy describes words where there is no relationship of inclusion between the senses, as is the case with metaphor and metonymy.

2022, Christopher Grindrod, Naomi Gurevich, editors, Clinical Applications of Linguistics to Speech-Language Pathology: A Guide for Clinicians, Taylor and Francis, →ISBN:

(semantics, linguistics) The quality or state of being an automeronym; the semantic relation between senses of a word such that one sense is meronymous to another.


autoholonymy

By surface analysis, auto- + holonymy, or, by surface analysis, autoholonym + -y.

Automeronymy occurs in a parallel way to autohyponymy, except that the more specific reading denotes subpart rather than a subtype, although it is by no means always easy to determine whether we should be talking about automeronymy or autoholonymy, that is to say, it is not easy to see which is the more basic use. An example of this may be door, which can refer to either the whole set-up, with jambs, lintel, threshold, hinges, and the leaf panel itself, as in Go through that door, or just the leaf, as in Take the door off its hinges. […] 6.4.1.4 Autoholonymy / As was mentioned above, discriminating automeronymy from autoholonymy is not easy, because there seem often to be different default readings in different contexts, that is to say, different contexts, which in themselves appear to exert no particular selective pressure, none the less induce different readings. Consider the case of body, as in Jane loves to show off her body. This surely denotes the whole body, not just the trunk (even though a lot of what Jane presumably enjoys displaying is actually part of the trunk!). But consider She received some serious injuries/blows to the body. Here, just the trunk is indicated. Another similar example is arm: a scratch on the arm is definitely on the non-hand part of the arm, but in He lost an arm in the accident, or She was waving her arms about, the whole arm is indicated. We shall tentatively consider these to be cases of autoholonymy, on the grounds that the inclusion of the hand in the latter cases is pragmatically entailed in those contexts, whereas the exclusion of the hand in the former case is totally unmotivated (admittedly, the case of body is not quite so clear). There are clearer cases in other languages, for instance, the well-known Have you eaten rice? in, for instance, Malay, as a way of enquiring whether someone has had a meal (which would prototypically include rice as a part).

(semantics, linguistics) The semantic relation between senses of a word such that one sense is holonymous to another.


autosuperordination

By surface analysis, auto- + superordination, or, by surface analysis, auto- + super- + ordinate + -ion.

surf

(semantics, linguistics) Synonym of autohypernymy.


autohyperonymy

By surface analysis, auto- + hyperonymy, or, by surface analysis, auto- + hyperonym + -y.


autoantonymic

en-adj

autoantonymic (comparative more autoantonymic, superlative most autoantonymic)

more autoantonymic (comparative)
most autoantonymic (superlative)

(semantics) Of, relating to, or being an autoantonym or autoantonyms.


near-antonym

[…] Near-antonyms may be treated in a similar fashion.

1972, Frederick Wilfrid Lancaster, Vocabulary Control for Information Retrieval, Information Resources Press, →ISBN, page 80:

Among the most common antonyms or near antonyms are the following. Make sure that you know their meanings.

1978, Jim Wayne Corder, Handbook of Current English, Scott, Foresman, →ISBN, page 308:

[…] near antonyms (sinking/swelling; vast/faint) gives way to a set of near synonyms (weird/appealing; suggestive/wild); what starts out as opposition proves complementary instead. And all of the adjectives that testify […]

1983, Bette Lynn London, Forms of Evasion: The Modern Novel as Retreat [dissertation abstract], University of California, page 101:

This is a revised edition of a thesaurus first published in 1980 (BRD 1981). The work uses a dictionary format, with words and numbered definitions on the left column of a page, and corresponding numbered synonyms, near-synonyms, antonyms, and near-antonyms on the right column.

As a basic editing tool, Legacy has most of the usual features characteristic of Windows products. It will do columnar cut and paste, perform search and replace effectively, and maintain capitalization […] complete thesaurus with synonyms, near-synonyms, antonyms, near-antonyms, definitions, parts of speech, and references to alternative words. The speller catches double words, capitalization errors, and simple punctuation errors, such as double periods. The program does not have user dictionaries. However, it will support small exception lists — NBI suggests the lists be 50 words or fewer — for proper names and other special terms.

An antonym is a word whose meaning is directly opposite to another word's meaning. […] Words that are only opposite in some aspect of their meaning cannot be said to be true antonyms. For example, sad […] funny […] Near antonyms are words that do not qualify as antonyms under the strict definition used for this thesaurus but which are clearly in marked contrast with the members of a synonym group.

2019, Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus, 2nd edition, Merriam-Webster, →ISBN, page 8a:

(linguistics, semantics) A word that is nearly an antonym, when an antonym is defined strictly by complete negation or polar oppositeness. (Many reference works use a looser definition of antonym that lumps these words into the single category of antonyms; some make the more rigorous distinction.)