ideograph
Americannoun
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Rhetoric. an ordinary language term that, within a particular ideology, has developed a loose, flexible, nonspecific use that stands for values and ideas present within that ideology, rather than having a specific, concrete meaning.
In the training materials,
is used as an ideograph to reinforce the military hierarchy.
Other Word Forms
- ideographic adjective
- ideographical adjective
- ideographically adverb
- unideographic adjective
- unideographical adjective
- unideographically adverb
Etymology
Origin of ideograph
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.
So very early on, it was very obvious in “The Lion King” that the circle is the ideograph: The Circle of Life.
From New York Times • Nov. 16, 2022
The ideograph, in Japanese brush painting, is finding “How do you do a whole bamboo forest in three brush strokes?”
From New York Times • Nov. 16, 2022
I looked for what I call an ideograph, which is to take the entire concept of the story—a road movie, what is that?
From Slate • Sep. 30, 2020
To operate the machine, a typist must memorize 5,400 combinations of four numbers each; every combination represents a Chinese word or ideograph.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the brush drawings it looks like the ideograph for “human,” two black wings.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
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.
