different between meaning vs polysemous

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mi?n??/
• Rhymes: -i?n??

Etymology 1

From Middle English mening, menyng, equivalent to mean +? -ing. Cognate with Scots mening (“intent, purpose, sense, meaning”), West Frisian miening (“opinion, mind”), Dutch mening (“view, opinion, judgement”), German Meinung (“opinion, view, mind, idea”), Danish and Swedish mening (“meaning, sense, sentence, opinion”), Icelandic meining (“meaning”).

Noun

meaning (countable and uncountable, plural meanings)

1. (of words, expressions or symbols)
   1. The denotation, referent, or idea connected with a word, expression, or symbol.

      • Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."

   2. The connotation associated with a word, expression, or symbol.
2. The purpose, value, or significance (of something) beyond the fact of that thing's existence.

   The number of persons attending the vigil had a lot of meaning to the families.

3. (of a person's actions) Intention.
   • c. 1610?, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse of War

     It was their meaning to take what they needed by strong hand.

Synonyms

• (denotation of words etc.): definition
• (connotation of words etc.):
• (purpose, significance):
• (of a person's actions): goal, aim, plan, intent

Hyponyms

• proposition

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From mean +? -ing.

Verb

meaning

1. present participle of mean

Adjective

meaning (comparative more meaning, superlative most meaning)

1. Having a (specified) intention.
2. Expressing some intention or significance; meaningful.
   • 1839, Edgar Allan Poe, "William Wilson"

     I might, to-day, have been a better, and thus a happier man, had I less frequently rejected the counsels embodied in those meaning whispers which I then but too cordially hated and too bitterly despised.

   • 1978, Jane Gardam, God on the Rocks, Abacus 2014, p. 160:

     [T]he new friends […] knew nothing and did not particularly care to hear about the beautiful mother with her long, meaning looks and liquid dresses and distant smile.

References

• meaning at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• amening

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin polys?mus, from Ancient Greek ????????? (polús?mos), from ????? (polús, “many”) + ??????? (s?maín?, “I signify, mean”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p??l?s.?.m?s/, /?p?l.??si?.m?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p??l.i?si?.m?s/, /p??l?s.?.m?s/
• ,

Adjective

polysemous (not comparable)

1. (linguistics) Having multiple meanings or interpretations.

   Synonyms: polysemantic, polysemic

   Antonyms: monosemous, univocal

   • 2000, Yael Ravin, Claudia Leacock, Polysemy: Theoretical and Computational Approaches, OUP Oxford (?ISBN), page 52:

     But just how are the meanings associated with a polysemous word related? A look at the entries for polysemous words in different dictionaries shows that lexicographers cannot agree on how to divide up the semantic space […]

Related terms

• polysemy

Translations