Polysemy

Quick meaning: Polysemy is a noun meaning (semantics) The quality characteristic of a polyseme, a sign (such as a word or symbol) that has multiple meanings (senses), often including multiple similar ones.

Meaning

(semantics) The quality characteristic of a polyseme, a sign (such as a word or symbol) that has multiple meanings (senses), often including multiple similar ones.

Example Sentences

Polysemy proliferates in natural language: Virtually every word is polysemous to some extent.

Fifty years ago the linguist and semanticist Stephen Ullmann wrote that polysemy, the fact that some words have a network of multiple but related meanings, is "the pivot of semantic analysis" […]

Word Forms

• polysemies

Antonyms for polysemy

Common opposites include monosemy.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include plurisignification, enantiosemy, heteronymy, homonymy, polyonymosity, polyonymy.

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