meaning
Americannoun
-
what is intended to be, or actually is, expressed or indicated; signification; import.
the three meanings of a word.
-
the end, purpose, or significance of something.
What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of this intrusion?
-
Linguistics.
-
the nonlinguistic cultural correlate, reference, or denotation of a linguistic form; expression.
-
linguistic content (expression ).
-
adjective
-
intentioned (usually used in combination).
She's a well-meaning person.
-
full of significance; expressive.
a meaning look.
noun
-
the sense or significance of a word, sentence, symbol, etc; import; semantic or lexical content
-
the purpose underlying or intended by speech, action, etc
-
the inner, symbolic, or true interpretation, value, or message
the meaning of a dream
-
valid content; efficacy
a law with little or no meaning
-
philosophy
-
the sense of an expression; its connotation
-
the reference of an expression; its denotation. In recent philosophical writings meaning can be used in both the above senses See also sense
-
adjective
Related Words
Meaning, purport, sense, significance denote that which is expressed or indicated by something. Meaning is the general word denoting that which is intended to be or actually is expressed or indicated: the meaning of a word or glance. Sense may be used to denote a particular meaning (among others) of a word or phrase: The word is frequently used in this sense. Sense may also be used loosely to refer to intelligible meaning: There's no sense in what he says. Significance refers particularly to a meaning that is implied rather than expressed: the significance of her glance; or to a meaning the importance of which may not be easy to perceive immediately: The real significance of his words was not grasped at the time. Purport is mainly limited to the meaning of a formal document, speech, important conversation, etc., and refers to the gist of something fairly complicated: the purport of your letter to the editor.
Other Word Forms
- meaningly adverb
- meaningness noun
- submeaning noun
- undermeaning noun
Etymology
Origin of meaning
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English (noun); mean 1, -ing 1, -ing 2
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.
Only 40% of boomers — the youngest of whom are already 62 years old — are ready for retirement, Vanguard estimates, meaning their projected sustainable income exceeds their spending needs.
From MarketWatch
"It took asking the right questions to seek them out and to really understand their meaning and from where they come."
From Science Daily
Battery capacity and efficiency has come on enormously, meaning electric buses can be charged at incredible speeds and cover very long distances.
From BBC
Second, dinosaurs may have had somewhat lower metabolic demands than similarly sized mammals, meaning they required less food overall.
From Science Daily
Bessen sees this as evidence that software demand is elastic, meaning as the price per unit of performance falls, demand rises more.
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.
