Signify
['sɪgnɪfaɪ] or ['sɪɡnɪfaɪ]
Definition
(verb.) convey or express a meaning; 'These words mean nothing to me!'; 'What does his strange behavior signify?'.
(verb.) make known with a word or signal; 'He signified his wish to pay the bill for our meal'.
Typist: Nadine--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) To show by a sign; to communicate by any conventional token, as words, gestures, signals, or the like; to announce; to make known; to declare; to express; as, a signified his desire to be present.
(n.) To mean; to import; to denote; to betoken.
Typist: Shelby
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Denote, betoken, mean, imply, intimate, indicate, purport.[2]. Express, declare, proclaim, make known.
v. n. Import, matter, be of importance, be of consequence.
Edited by Ingram
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Portend, purport, prognosticate, mean, represent, indicate, communicate,denote, betoken, declare, utter, forebode, presage
ANT:Conceal, suppress, misindicate, misdenote, nullify, refute, neutralize,preclude
Typist: Nadine
Definition
v.t. to make known by a sign or by words: to mean: to indicate or declare: to have consequence.—v.i. to be of consequence:—pa.t. and pa.p. sig′nifīed.—adj. Sig′nifiable that may be signified or represented by symbols.—n. Signif′icance that which is signified: meaning: importance: moment—also Signif′icancy.—adj. Signif′icant signifying: expressive of something: standing as a sign.—adv. Signif′icantly.—ns. Signif′icate in logic one of several things signified by a common term; Significā′tion act of signifying: that which is signified: meaning.—adj. Signif′icātive signifying: denoting by a sign: having meaning: expressive.—adv. Signif′icātively in a significative manner: so as to betoken by an external sign.—ns. Signif′icātiveness the quality of being significative; Signif′icātor one who signifies: (astrol.) a planet ruling a house.—adj. Signif′icatory.
Editor: Mary
Examples
- And what does it signify whether unmarried and never-to-be-married women are unattractive and inelegant or not? Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The gentleman says it does not signify, was my footman's answer. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- I thought it would not signify to him. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Therefore, what does that signify to ME! Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Had I known as much half an hour agoBut since I AM here,speaking with a forced vivacity as he returned to his seatwhat does it signify? Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- A little redness or a little matter of Bone, here or there, what does it signify to Me? Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- She had lost his name, and could only signify him by his hammer. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- I signified my readiness to proceed, but our guides protested against such a measure. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Leave being signified by a gesture, Shirley was presently enlightened on what had happened in her absence. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Then she quickly pressed her hand up on Wildeve's arm and signified to him to come back from the open side of the shed into the shadow. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- But in the vernacular, the mind proceeds directly from the symbol to the thing signified. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Harriet signified that she had already made that inquiry. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- With which words, which signified his opinion that the regiment would march the next morning, the Major ceased talking, and fell asleep. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- When I had signified my full consent to the conditions of her will, she told me I was a generous boy, and she was proud of me. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- This signifies the capacity to acquire habits, or develop definite dispositions. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- But when it is perceived that each idea signifies the quality of mind expressed in action, the supposed opposition between them falls away. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- I don't think it signifies two straws about the 'Pioneer,' or Ladislaw, or Brooke's speechifying to the Middlemarchers. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It signifies, he intimated, bloodshed and civil conflict. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It signifies that an activity has become intelligent. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Reason ceases to be a remote and ideal faculty, and signifies all the resources by which activity is made fruitful in meaning. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- But what signifies our wishing? Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- All he had yet said, I could count as mere sound and fury, signifying nothing: not so of the present attack. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Their mamma, however, signifying acquiescence in the project, they fetched their bonnets, and the trio set out. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- They are not aware his uproars are all sound and fury, signifying nothing! Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It is antithetical to random and ill-considered action,--ill-considered signifying ill-adapted. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Signifying in Quod, Miss? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
Editor: Noreen