sə̇ˈmantiks, sēˈ-, -maan-, -tēks noun plural but usually singular in construction
Etymology: French sémantique, from Greek sēmantikos significant, from sēmainein to signify, show by a sign, indicate, mean, from sēma sign; akin to Albanian dítme wisdom, knowledge, Sanskrit dhyāti he thinks
1. : the study of meanings:
a. : the historical and psychological study and the classification of changes in the signification of words or forms viewed as factors in linguistic development and including such phenomena as specialization and expansion of meaning, meliorative and pejorative tendencies, metaphor, and adaptation
b. : the study dealing with the relations between signs and what they refer to, the relations between the signs of a system, and human behavior in reaction to signs including unconscious attitudes, influences of social institutions, and epistemological and linguistic assumptions : semiotic
c. : a branch of semiotic dealing with the relations between signs and what they refer to and including theories of denotation, extension, naming, and truth — compare pragmatics
d. : the study of the relations of a sign to its referent and to other signs within a system
e. : the study of the connotations and ambiguities of words and their function in communication and propaganda
2. : general semantics
3.
a. : the meaning or relationship of meanings of a sign or set of signs
one of the few words in our list to have received close attention as to its semantics — A.H.Schutz
this lack of understanding has resulted from different terminologies, but the problem is not merely one of semantics — E.L.Kelly
especially : connotative meaning
b. : the management or exploitation of connotation and ambiguity (as in propaganda)
the dubious semantics of the racist fanatics