noun
- the branch of linguistics concerned with the nature, the structure, and the development and changes of the meanings of speech forms, or with contextual meaning
- semiotics
- the branch of semiotics dealing with relationships of signs and symbols to the things to which they refer, or with referential meaning
- the relationships between signs and symbols and the concepts, feelings, etc. associated with them in the minds of their interpreters; notional meaning
- loosely deliberate distortion or twisting of meaning, as in some types of advertising, propaganda, etc.
Origin:
< semantic, based on Fr sémantique