semantics

noun

Etymology: From French sémantique, displacing earlier semasiology. From Ancient Greek σημαντικός (sēmantikós). By surface analysis, semantic + -ics.

1. A branch of linguistics studying the meaning of words.

   “Holonym: linguistics”

   “Meronyms: semasiology, onomasiology”

2. The study of the relationship between words and their meanings.

   “In fact, nowadays a lot is known about the semantics of natural languages, and it is surprisingly easy to build semantic representations which partially capture the meaning of sentences or even entire discourses.”

3. The meaning or set of meanings of a linguistic element, such as a word, morpheme or utterance.

   “In very ancient or poorly documented languages, the precise semantics of words tend to be uncertain.”

4. The meaning or set of meanings of a linguistic element, such as a word, morpheme or utterance.

   “The semantics of the terms used are debatable.”

5. The meaning of computer language constructs, in contrast to their form or syntax.

   “file sharing and locking semantics”

6. Pettiness or triviality.

   “Who cares? This is all just semantics!”