Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The concept that a signifier denotes.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun linguistics, structuralism The concept or idea evoked by a sign.
  • verb Simple past tense and past participle of signify.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the meaning of a word or expression; the way in which a word or expression or situation can be interpreted

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Translation of French signifié, past participle of signifier, to signify.]

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Examples

  • Initially, the label signified that 100% of the wood used in a product was harvested by sustainable methods.

    FSC's 'Green' Label for Wood Products Gets Growing Pains 2007

  • I had been taught that “itis” at the end of a word signified some kind of inflammation and I was exposed to the insight that “gastr” was supposed to make you think about stomachs; so I creatively surmised correctly that the word “gastritis” might well relate to inflammation of the stomach.

    A Mind at a Time M.D. Mel Levine 2002

  • Let animal be the term signified by A, mortal by B, and immortal by C, and let man, whose definition is to be got, be signified by D.

    Prior Analytics Aristotle 2002

  • I had been taught that “itis” at the end of a word signified some kind of inflammation and I was exposed to the insight that “gastr” was supposed to make you think about stomachs; so I creatively surmised correctly that the word “gastritis” might well relate to inflammation of the stomach.

    A Mind at a Time M.D. Mel Levine 2002

  • Bush called himself the “asterisk candidate,” referring to the fact that an asterisk following his name signified that poll takers found no support at all for him.

    COMPLETING THE REVOLUTION ROBERT D. NOVAK 2000

  • Bush called himself the “asterisk candidate,” referring to the fact that an asterisk following his name signified that poll takers found no support at all for him.

    COMPLETING THE REVOLUTION ROBERT D. NOVAK 2000

  • Bush called himself the “asterisk candidate,” referring to the fact that an asterisk following his name signified that poll takers found no support at all for him.

    COMPLETING THE REVOLUTION ROBERT D. NOVAK 2000

  • Let animal be the term signified by A, mortal by B, and immortal by C, and let man, whose definition is to be got, be signified by D.

    PRIOR ANALYTICS Aristotle 1989

  • Flandry didn't know what the title signified -- and Merseian grades were subtle, variable things -- but it was plainly a high one, since the aristocratic-deferential form of address was used.

    A Circus of Hells Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1969

  • In his book The Peace Process, William Quant traces American-led negotiations from the mid-1970s when the term signified a "gradual, step-by-step approach to resolving one of the world's most difficult conflicts."

    Dissident Voice Stephen Lendman 2010

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