Definition of polysemy in English:
polysemy
noun ˈpɒlɪsiːmipəˈlɪsɪmipɑˈlɪsəmi
mass nounLinguistics The coexistence of many possible meanings for a word or phrase.
Example sentencesExamples
- Valéry puts to work the regulated polysemy of the word ‘capital’.
- For my part, therefore, I am inclined to see features of both monosemy and polysemy in a word's semantic structure.
- Literariness was not merely the quality that distinguished poetics from pragmatics, it was the guarantee and promise of linguistic richness, of polysemy.
- All the words for actual (kinds of) snow have been removed, and I'm ignoring the extensive polysemy of snow and many of its derivatives.
- In doing this, lexicographers generally take the view that homonymy relates to different words whose forms have converged while polysemy relates to one word whose meanings have diverged or radiated.
Derivatives
adjective pɒlɪˈsiːmɪkˌpɑliˈsimɪk
Linguistics The rich polysemic nature of Kanak languages, some intricately entwined with Polynesian vocabularies, testify to these congruences of aquatic and terrestrial meaning.
Example sentencesExamples
- These pairs often display regular polysemic relations, i.e. they constitute systematic sense combinations that are valid for more than one word.
- Most Sanskrit words are polysemic, as can be noted by the many entries for each word in Sanskrit dictionaries.
- This obscurity might be the reverse of their fruitfully polysemic character: only dead terms can be univocally defined!
- Without being evangelistic about what is good writing Hazel stresses that experimental texts are polysemic, having many meanings and interpretations, and there is a considerable difference between real life and text life.
adjective pɒlɪˈsiːməspəˈlɪsɪməs
Linguistics There should be a way of saying that there is one polysemous lexeme with limitations on how you can use its singular.
Example sentencesExamples
- Linguists such as Nick Enfield and Anna Vierzbicka have argued that most body part terms used in the description of emotion are polysemous, which is to say that they have a number of different meanings.
- They may, however, be put off by homographs and polysemous words, such as the various uses of bank and crane.
- It is argued that this is an instance of children's developmental and educational problems with polysemous vocabulary, a relatively neglected area of linguistic development.
- It might be unclear, in any given case, whether a word should be regarded as polysemous or monosemous.
Origin
Early 20th century: from poly- 'many' + Greek sēma 'sign'.