Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🪧 Direction signs 📝 Text guidance
signposting

signposting

3.7
Words and short phrases that guide people through a talk or text
  • noun
  • /ˈsaɪnˌpoʊstɪŋ/
translation icon : señalización
  • This visual signposting makes it easy for the reader to figure out how to use the infographic.

Examples

  • The report included excellent signposting to ensure readers could easily follow the structure and find key information.

  • When they did meet, the quality of the interaction between the specialist, patient, and carer was variable, with meetings brief, focusing on medication, with little or no psychological support or signposting to other types of services.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Brief individual lifestyle advice and 'signposting' for further specialist support were given as appropriate.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Former carers agreed that they should have been provided with a more integrated care package, regular access to specialist practitioners with clear signposting to other services and information.

    Academic text (2010)

  • However, former carers in this study did not feel they had received the support they needed, citing examples of the need for better access to specialist practitioners with clear signposting to other services and for more information on the disease and how to care for a person dying with Parkinson's disease.

    Academic text (2010)

  • The advice session was protocol-driven to ensure appropriate signposting and referral to the client's GP, primary care, voluntary, and community-based services (Box 1).

    Academic text (2010)

  • St Ann's and Sneinton Education Improvement Partnership's (EIP) parent counselling project promotes family health and well-being by providing parents with individual counselling, peer support, and signposting to other sources of support.

    Academic text (2010)

  • The teacher used clear signposting to help students understand the main points of the lesson.

  • During the presentation, effective signposting guided the audience through complex ideas step by step.

Synonyms

rhetorical device
vssignposting
1 6.6

A way of using language to persuade or add emphasis

is used to point out and guide the structure of a talk or text

Antonyms

confusion
389 1.8

A time when things are not organized and people do not know what to think or do

disorientation
18 6.7

Feeling confused about where you are, who you are, or what is real

How Clear

summary
3.3
signposting
3.7
transition
9 4.1

Surface Forms

signposting singular
signpostings plural

Morphology

signposting = signpost (semi-transparent) = sign + post + ing

The discourse sense is a metaphorical extension from physical signposting to verbal/written markers; the morphological formation is regular but the semantic shift requires awareness of the metaphor.

Etymology

Signposting also describes words or short phrases that guide a listener or reader. It comes from the parts sign ('mark') and post ('pole' or 'marker'), like a signpost that points the way, so signposting in speech and writing are the small signals that help people follow the ideas.