Meaning

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -iːnɪŋ

From Middle English mening, menyng, equivalent to mean + -ing. Cognate with Scots mening ("intent, purpose, sense, meaning"), West Frisian miening ("opinion, mind"), Dutch mening ("view, opinion, judgement"), German Meinung ("opinion, view, mind, idea"), Danish and Swedish mening ("meaning, sense, sentence, opinion"), Icelandic meining ("meaning").

Full definition of meaning

Noun

1. The symbolic value of something.
• 1907, Robert Chambers, The Younger Set Chapter 8, “I never understood it,” she observed, lightly scornful. “What occult meaning has a sun-dial for a spooney ? I’m sure I don't want to read riddles into a strange gentleman’s optics.”
2. The significance of a thing.
   the meaning of life
3. (semantics) The objects or concept that a word or phrase denotes, or that which a sentence says.
4. (obsolete) intention
• unknown date Sir Walter Raleigh:It was their meaning to take what they needed by stronghand.

Synonyms

• sense, definition

Hyponyms

• proposition

Derived terms

See mean.

Verb

1. Present participle of mean
• 2013, Lee S. Langston, The Adaptable Gas Turbine, Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.

Anagrams

• amening