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onomasiology

[ on-uh-mey-see-ol-uh-jee, -mey-zee- ]
/ ˌɒn əˌmeɪ siˈɒl ə dʒi, -ˌmeɪ zi- /

noun

the study of the means of expressing a given concept.

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Origin of onomasiology

1930–35; <German Onomasiologie, equivalent to Greek ônomasí(a) name, expression (derivative of ónoma, ónyma name) + -o--o- + -logie-logy

OTHER WORDS FROM onomasiology

on·o·ma·si·o·log·ic [on-uh-mey-see-uh-loj-ik, -mey-zee-], /ˌɒn əˌmeɪ si əˈlɒdʒ ɪk, -ˌmeɪ zi-/, on·o·ma·si·o·log·i·cal, adjective

Words nearby onomasiology

on no account, o.n.o., on occasion, on-off, on-off phenomenon, onomasiology, onomastic, onomasticon, onomastics, onomatology, onomatomania
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

British Dictionary definitions for onomasiology

onomasiology
/ (ˌɒnəʊˌmeɪsɪˈɒlədʒɪ) /

noun

another name for onomastics (def. 1)
the branch of semantics concerned with the meanings of and meaning relations between individual words
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