general semantics

American  

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. a philosophical approach to language, developed by Alfred Korzybski, exploring the relationship between the form of language and its use and attempting to improve the capacity to express ideas.

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general semantics British  

noun

1. (functioning as singular) a school of thought, founded by Alfred Korzybski, that stresses the arbitrary nature of language and other symbols and the problems that result from misunderstanding their nature

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Etymology

Origin of general semantics

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

O'Reilly coped by seeking out father figures: first George Simon, a practitioner of a New Age philosophy called general semantics, which stresses a kind of introspective observation.

From Inc • May 1, 2010

To appreciate the damage that this sort of sloppiness can do, it is useful to invoke the late Count Alfred Korzybski, inventor of general semantics.

From Time Magazine Archive

If the whole world adopted general semantics, treating each fact freshly without preconceived notions, Korzybski thinks i would be sane at last.

From Time Magazine Archive

Later, he mortgaged his estate, and spent the rest of his fortune, and more than ten years, writing the knotty 800-page bible of general semantics, Science and Sanity.

From Time Magazine Archive

Science and sanity: an introduction to non-Aristotelian systems and general semantics.

From U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1976 January - June by Library of Congress. Copyright Office