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semantic - 3 dictionary results

se⋅man⋅tic

[si-man-tik]
–adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or arising from the different meanings of words or other symbols: semantic change; semantic confusion.
2. of or pertaining to semantics.
Also, se⋅man⋅ti⋅cal.


Origin:
1655–65; < Gk sēmantikós having meaning, equiv. to sēmant(ós) marked (sēman-, base of sēmaínein to show, mark + -tos verbal adj. suffix; akin to sêma sign) + -ikos -ic


se⋅man⋅ti⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
se·man·tic   (sĭ-mān'tĭk)   
adj.  
  1. Of or relating to meaning, especially meaning in language.
  2. Of, relating to, or according to the science of semantics.

[French sémantique, from Greek sēmantikos, significant, from sēmantos, marked, from sēmainein, sēman-, to signify, from sēma, sign.]
se·man'ti·cal·ly adv.

semantic 
1894, from Fr. sémantique, applied by Michel Bréal (1883) to the psychology of language, from Gk. semantikos "significant," from semainein "to show, signify, indicate by a sign," from sema "sign" (Doric sama). Semantics "the study of the relationship between linguistic symbols and their meanings" is recorded from 1893. Earlier this was called semasiology (1847, from Ger. Semasiologie, 1829).
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