lexical meaning
- noun
- /ˈlɛksɪkəl ˈmiːnɪŋ/
- Specialized
- The lexical meaning of the word 'dog' refers to a domesticated animal often kept as a pet.
Examples
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In linguistics, the lexical meaning describes how words relate to specific concepts or objects.
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Understanding the lexical meaning of words is essential for effective communication.
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If we, if we look at the, the lexical meaning of this term, who, who speak for God, quite often they didn't feel like doing that.
Synonyms
An idea a word or sign shows
The idea a word gives about someone, something, or an action
How Specific
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'lexical' = concerning the vocabulary and 'meaning' = the sense of a word, so together they signal the vocabulary-related sense of a word (as opposed to grammatical meaning). This adjective+noun combination follows ordinary compositional patterns found cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to derive the intended sense.
Etymology
Lexical meaning comes from the image of a word holding a small picture of a thing: lexical is the word itself and meaning is the picture it shows. So it means the 'real-world' sense of a word — the object or idea it names, not its 'grammar' or 'structural' role in a sentence.