semantic
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or arising from the different meanings of words or other symbols.
semantic change; semantic confusion.
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of or relating to semantics.
adjective
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of or relating to meaning or arising from distinctions between the meanings of different words or symbols
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of or relating to semantics
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logic concerned with the interpretation of a formal theory, as when truth tables are given as an account of the sentential connectives
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of semantic
First recorded in 1655–65; from Greek sēmantikós “having meaning,” equivalent to sēmant(ós) “marked” ( sēman-, base of sēmaínein “to show, mark” + -tos verbal adjective suffix; akin to sêma “sign”) + -ikos -ic
Explanation
If something is semantic, it has to do with the meaning of a word. If you're spending all this time reading the dictionary, you must be interested in semantic questions — or you just want better grades on your vocabulary quizzes. Semantic comes from the Greek word for "significant," and has to do with how, say, the word dog actually means that furry friend of yours, and all the others like him. If you're really into the philosophy of language and how words come to have particular meanings, then you like semantics. It can be an adjective, as in a semantic argument with your mom over the meaning of "grounded," or a noun, meaning "the study of signs and meaning."
Vocabulary lists containing semantic
"Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan
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Eats, Shoots & Leaves
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Sapiens
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In November, it refocused Chase’s division from “retail” to “lifestyle” — a semantic change that reflects a shifting focus.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 3, 2026
For many years, episodic and semantic memory have been treated as separate systems, leading researchers to investigate them independently.
From Science Daily • Feb. 3, 2026
But the distinction between task repricing—when technology can take over all or part of a task—and job destruction isn’t semantic, it is economic.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 28, 2026
People deemed to have severely deficient autobiographical memory, or SDAM, find their episodic memories transformed into semantic ones—they know they had an experience, but are unable to replay it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 17, 2025
The passive voice is just one of the gadgets that the English language makes available to rearrange phrases while preserving their semantic roles.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
