Word
semantic
Phoneticsse·man·tic
US/sɪˈmæntɪk/
UK/səmˈæntɪk/
Definitions
01relating to meaning
adj. relating to the meaning of words and sentences.
adj. relating to semantics or the study of meaning in language.
“The two words are similar, but there is a small semantic difference between them.”
“The professor argued that the semantic shift in the word's usage reflected broader changes in the country's social values.”
Academic · Technical
Usage
Often used to distinguish the meaning of a word from its grammar or sound.
Synonyms
Antonyms
02structured data
adj. describing information that is organized so a computer can understand what it actually means.
adj. relating to the logical structure and intended meaning of data or code, rather than just its appearance.
“Using semantic HTML helps search engines understand the content of your website.”
“The development team focused on creating a semantic web layer to ensure that different databases could share information accurately.”
Technical
Usage
Commonly appears in phrases like 'semantic web' or 'semantic HTML'.
Synonyms
03petty or trivial
adj. describing an argument that is only about small details or the way words are used, rather than the main point.
adj. referring to a point or argument that is perceived as petty, trivial, or focused on minor linguistic distinctions.
“Stop being so semantic and just listen to what I am trying to say.”
“The debate became purely semantic, with both sides arguing over definitions rather than addressing the actual policy changes.”
Slang · Informal
Teaching tip
In casual speech, calling someone 'semantic' is often a way to tell them they are being too pedantic about word choices.
Synonyms
Antonyms
04part of a character
n. in writing systems like Chinese, the part of a character that shows its meaning.
n. the component of a phono-semantic character that provides a clue to its meaning, as opposed to its pronunciation.
“In this Chinese character, the left side is the semantic and the right side is the phonetic.”
“The researcher analyzed how the semantic components of ancient scripts evolved to represent more abstract concepts over time.”
Technical
Synonyms
Antonyms
Real-World Examples
“When a journal reviewer asked them to eliminate the semantic features to see how the models performed without that information, it was much more difficult to make predictions.” “Responses were consistent across human participants, confirming that the task captured semantic relationships among emotion terms that are broadly shared.” Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek σημαντικός (sēmantikós). Compare French sémantique.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Domains
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/semantic