empty signifier

American  

[emp-tee sig-nuh-fahy-er] / ˈɛmp ti ˈsɪg nəˌfaɪ ər /

noun

Semiotics.

1. a word or phrase used in such a way that it does not have a fixed, specific meaning, allowing it to refer to different, often contradictory things depending on who is using it and in what context.

   The term “freedom” can be an empty signifier in politics, with different groups using it as justification for opposing goals.

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Etymology

Origin of empty signifier

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

These “vibes” lead to lots of sloppy thinking and writing; In many ways these “vibes” are an empty signifier that can mean whatever a given person wants them to.

From Salon

I’ll be honest, when I looked at the cover of the book, I felt a little like, “Oh man, here we go” because when I was a kid, I definitely grew up in the era where it felt like every day at school, people were saying, “We have to save the polar bears,” to the point at which polar bears became sort of an empty signifier and just barely have any meaning anymore.

From The Verge

Structural racism is a very important concept, but it is now becoming an empty signifier.

From Salon

Vukmir and her allies regard gender as an empty signifier that bears no relation to policy.

From The New Yorker

She is so technically skilled and emotionally restricted to sweetness that she communicates opera the same way Trump appears to deploy it—as an “empty signifier that arouses grand emotions over rationality,” as Brian Wise wrote at Slate after Trump started blasting Puccini.

From The New Yorker