polysemantic word
- noun
- /ˌpɒliˈsɛmənˌtɪk wɜrd/
- Specialized
:
palabra polisémica
- The word 'bank' is a polysemantic word, as it can refer to a financial institution or the side of a river.
Examples
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A dictionary entry usually lists all the meanings of a polysemantic word.
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When learning English, students are often challenged by polysemantic words with several distinct definitions.
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The term polysemantic word can confuse many learners.
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A polysemantic word has multiple meanings.
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Language learners often struggle to understand the meanings of a polysemantic word because these words can have different interpretations.
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The word 'light' is a classic example of a polysemantic word, as it can refer to brightness or something that is not heavy.
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Teachers often highlight polysemantic words during vocabulary lessons to help students recognize how context influences meaning.
Synonyms
A word with more than one meaning
A word that has more than one meaning
How Polysemous
- Specialized
- Jargon
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a word that has more than one meaning' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'polysemantic' (having multiple meanings) with 'word' (a distinct meaningful element). This adjectival-noun composition follows regular morphological logic and is cross-linguistically predictable, so a learner who knows both constituents will understand the MWE.
Etymology
Polysemantic word comes from the parts poly- and semantic, which mean 'many' and 'meaning'. Imagine one word wearing many masks, each mask showing a different idea, so the phrase describes a word that has 'more than one meaning'.
