English Explanatory Dictionary

meaning

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The denotation, referent, or idea connected with a word, expression, or symbol.
  2. The connotation associated with a word, expression, or symbol.
  3. The purpose, value, or significance (of something) beyond the fact of that thing's existence.
  4. Intention.
verb
  1. present participle and gerund of mean
adj
  1. Having a (specified) intention.
  2. Expressing some intention or significance; meaningful.

Pronunciation

/ˈmiː.nɪŋ/ /ˈmi.nɪŋ/ en-us-meaning.ogg [ˈmɪi.nɪŋ] /ˈmiː.nəŋ/

Word forms

meaning meanings more meaning most meaning

Etymology

From Middle English mening, menyng, equivalent to mean + -ing. Cognate with Scots mening (“intent, purpose, sense, meaning”), West Frisian miening (“opinion, mind”), Dutch mening (“view, opinion, judgement”), German Meinung (“opinion, view, mind, idea”), Danish and Swedish mening (“meaning, sense, sentence, opinion”), Icelandic meining (“meaning”).

Synonyms

acceptation definition parsing sense flavor implication import insinuation tone purpose significance goal aim plan intent

Derived words

antimeaning double meaning foremeaning get the meaning loan meaning meaninged meaningful meaningless meaninglessly meaninglessness meaning of life meaning-text model meaning-text theory nonmeaning plain meaning rule self-referential meaning submeaning take the meaning undermeaning meaningly meaningness unmeaning
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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