componential analysis
noun Linguistics.
the analysis of a set of related linguistic items, especially word meanings, into combinations of features in terms of which each item may be compared with every other, as in the analysis of man into the semantic features “male,” “mature,” and “human,” woman into “female,” “mature,” and “human,” girl into “female,” “immature,” and “human,” and bull into “male,” “mature,” and “bovine.”
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Nearby words
- complot,
- comply,
- compo,
- component,
- component of complement,
- componentry,
- compony,
- componé,
- comport,
- comportance
Origin of componential analysis
First recorded in 1945–50
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019