Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having or characterized by many meanings, as the words play and table.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having many meanings.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective linguistics Having multiple meanings or interpretations.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of words; having many meanings

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Late Latin polysēmus, from Greek polusēmos : polu-, poly- + sēma, sign.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin polysēmus, from Ancient Greek πολύσημος (polusēmos), from πολύς (polus, "many") + σημαίνω (sēmainō, "I signify, mean").

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Examples

Comments

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  • JM is polysemous at the moment.

    April 5, 2011