Definition of signified in English:
signified
noun ˈsɪɡnɪfʌɪdˈsɪɡnəˌfaɪd
Linguistics The meaning or idea expressed by a sign, as distinct from the physical form in which it is expressed.
Compare with signifier
Example sentencesExamples
- It is a naive mistake, however, to suppose that the Renaissance restored or reintegrated classical culture, or in any sense reunited classical signifiers with their classical signifieds.
- Part of the attraction was the hope that a formal discipline which required one to name signifiers and signifieds would display convincingly the ideological contents of various activities.
- There is a perpetual shift in the relationship between signifiers and signifieds.
- The resemblance between the signified and the signifier - the defining characteristic of an iconic sign - has to be a resemblance as perceived by someone.
- Whether we take the signified or the signifier, Saussure argues, language has neither ideas nor sounds that existed before the linguistic system, but only conceptual and phonic differences that have issued from the system.
Definition of signified in US English:
signified
nounˈsiɡnəˌfīdˈsɪɡnəˌfaɪd
Linguistics The meaning or idea expressed by a sign, as distinct from the physical form in which it is expressed.
Compare with signifier
Example sentencesExamples
- Part of the attraction was the hope that a formal discipline which required one to name signifiers and signifieds would display convincingly the ideological contents of various activities.
- The resemblance between the signified and the signifier - the defining characteristic of an iconic sign - has to be a resemblance as perceived by someone.
- Whether we take the signified or the signifier, Saussure argues, language has neither ideas nor sounds that existed before the linguistic system, but only conceptual and phonic differences that have issued from the system.
- It is a naive mistake, however, to suppose that the Renaissance restored or reintegrated classical culture, or in any sense reunited classical signifiers with their classical signifieds.
- There is a perpetual shift in the relationship between signifiers and signifieds.