signet
Americannoun
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a small seal, as on a finger ring.
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a small official seal for legal documents, contracts, etc.
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an impression made by or as if by a signet.
verb (used with object)
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signets,
present (3rd person singular)
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signeted,
past participle, past
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signeting
present participle
noun
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a small seal, esp one as part of a finger ring
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a seal used to stamp or authenticate documents
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the impression made by such a seal
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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signetsimple
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signetssimple
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have signetedperfect
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has signetedperfect
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am signetingprogressive
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are signetingprogressive
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is signetingprogressive
-
have been signetingperfect progressive
-
has been signetingperfect progressive
Past
-
signetedsimple
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had signetedperfect
-
was signetingprogressive
-
were signetingprogressive
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had been signetingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of signet
1300–50; Middle English < Old French ( see sign, -et); compare Medieval Latin signētum
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.
See Examples For:
Then there are the matching signet rings Robbie gifted to Elordi.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026
Are you wearing a martini glass signet ring?
From Salon ● May 1, 2025
“I try to make my pieces smooth and comfortable,” he said, holding a signet ring cast in sterling silver that he etched with a Japanese crest of a lotus flower.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2025
He proudly wore the family crest on a signet ring, but he was also mindful that his father had been accused of collaboration with the Nazis and his mother was “a former American exotic dancer.”
From Washington Post ● Jun. 3, 2022
Her small right hand with the signet ring on the middle finger was stuck out too, but it made no move toward Aron’s hand.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Mr. Yang has a tattoo on his arm, drawn by a nonbinary Chinese tattoo artist, with ancient signets.
From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2020
The short exchange had many signets of Mr. Ryan’s nascent leadership style, which contrasts sharply with that of his predecessor, John A. Boehner.
From New York Times ● Dec. 7, 2015
So far, they have found 1,500 objects: gold and silver jewelry, carved signets, artistic glassware and pottery.
From Time Magazine Archive
Everybody began attending to the paraphernalia of a challenge, the usual sealing of the gages with signets and so on, and the fixing of the date.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
He approached his cabinet of signets, and the collector suddenly revolted in his blood.
From The Wrong Box by Stevenson, Robert Louis
Packets are signeted, mutually sealed, Rucker claps on the Town-seal first, Freytag and Voltaire following with theirs.
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 16 by Carlyle, Thomas
"And now, Sir Alexander, what say you?" asked the Sieur de Retz, turning to the King's guardian, who had been caressing the curls of his beard with his white and signeted hand.
From The Black Douglas by Richards, Frank
For raising and signeting the summonds of reduction in my Lord Abotshall's name, against the minister of Athelstanford, a dollar and a halfe.
From Publications of the Scottish History Society, Volume 36 Journals of Sir John Lauder Lord Fountainhall with His Observations on Public Affairs and Other Memoranda 1665-1676 by Fountainhall, John Lauder, Lord
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.
