generative semantics

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noun (used with a singular verb)Linguistics.

a theory of generative grammar holding that the deep structure of a sentence is equivalent to its semantic representation, from which the surface structure can then be derived using only one set of rules that relate underlying meaning and surface form rather than separate sets of semantic and syntactic rules.

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Words nearby generative semantics

Generation Z, generative, generative cell, generative grammar, generative phonology, generative semantics, generative-transformational grammar, generativist, generator, generatrix, generic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use generative semantics in a sentence

How important are the semantics when it comes to talking about Hitler?
Ron Rosenbaum on Hitler, Hollywood, and Quantifying Evil|William O’Connor|July 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If a series is telling a story that matters to us, the loss of a main character can be jarring but generative.
Life After TV Death: How Shows Like ‘Game of Thrones’ Kill Your Favorite Characters|Phillip Maciak|April 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
To those who see all sex work falling under the same illicit umbrella, this is mere semantics.
Sex, Power, and Desire: The Life of America’s Next Top Escort|Scott Bixby|March 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He called the rules of this device universal grammar, and his method of studying the rules he called generative grammar.
What Is Michel Gondry Doing With Noam Chomsky?|Jimmy So|November 20, 2013|DAILY BEAST

I sensed that I found a symbol for generative grammar, and I worked on the [theory of] recursivity in my animation.
What Is Michel Gondry Doing With Noam Chomsky?|Jimmy So|November 20, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The generative facts which created them are the same which are always in operation about us.
Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A -- Z|Anatole Cerfberr and Jules Franois Christophe
"Remember semantics," I murmured to him, as I pulled out Sara's chair for her.
Sense from Thought Divide|Mark Irvin Clifton
He could express it in the semantics of spiritism, or he could admit to witchcraft and sorcery.
Sense from Thought Divide|Mark Irvin Clifton
It was also said to indicate a union of Osiris and Isis, and was regarded as a symbol of the generative principle of nature.
The Swastika|Thomas Wilson
Others have recognized it as representing the generative principle of mankind, making it the symbol of the female.
The Swastika|Thomas Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for generative semantics

generative semantics

noun

(functioning as singular) a school of semantic theory based on the doctrine that syntactic and semantic structure are of the same formal nature and that there is a single system of rules that relates surface structure to meaningCompare interpretive semantics

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012