semantic
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or arising from the different meanings of words or other symbols.
semantic change; semantic confusion.
-
of or relating to semantics.
adjective
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of or relating to meaning or arising from distinctions between the meanings of different words or symbols
-
of or relating to semantics
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logic concerned with the interpretation of a formal theory, as when truth tables are given as an account of the sentential connectives
Other Word Forms
- nonsemantic adjective
- pseudosemantic adjective
- semantically adverb
Etymology
Origin of semantic
First recorded in 1655–65; from Greek sēmantikós “having meaning,” equivalent to sēmant(ós) “marked” ( sēman-, base of sēmaínein “to show, mark” + -tos verbal adjective suffix; akin to sêma “sign”) + -ikos -ic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But the distinction feels like a retreat into semantics — or what Orwell might refer to as “doublespeak.”
From Salon
“You can get into semantics,” he said, “but the bottom line is whether the department used all of the tools available to put the Jan. 1 fire out. And it did not.”
From Los Angeles Times
"Ordinary people don't care about the semantics, they want to see punishment, and public opinion is very much against Andrew, the Palace knows that, and the language very much reflect that".
From BBC
But we don't need to parse his semantic description of the exchange to know that this was not the meeting that the Ukrainian side had been expecting.
From BBC
They can be short-term or long-term, semantic or episodic.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
