signification

American  

[sig-nuh-fi-key-shuhn] / ˌsɪg nə fɪˈkeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. meaning; import; sense.

2. the act or fact of signifying; signifying; indication.

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signification British  

/ ˌsɪɡnɪfɪˈkeɪʃən /

noun

1. something that is signified; meaning or sense

2. the act of signifying

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Other Word Forms

• nonsignification noun

Etymology

Origin of signification

1250–1300; Middle English significacion (< Old French signification, significaciun ) < Latin significātiōn- (stem of significātiō ) signal, emphasis, meaning, equivalent to significāt ( us ), past participle of significāre to signify ( -ate ¹ ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

“If you keep for a signification amount of time capacity that you don’t use, you put yourself in trouble. That’s what experience shows. So you need to continually adjust your capacity to your needs.”

From Seattle Times • Jan. 5, 2023

Saussure held that there were structural laws that define how linguistic signification operated; the semiotics of Saussure and Pierce were the means of discovering these laws.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

The apartment signs of L.A. announce location through flair, decadence, strangeness, absurdity, signification.

From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2022

Very few platinum-level artists have legacies so oversaturated with signification as the rechristened Chicks’.

From Slate • Jul. 17, 2020

It is supposed with good reason, that there could be nothing personal in this curiosity, and therefore that it was intended as a political signification of a certain degree of complaisance towards America.

From The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution (Volume VI) by Various