semantics

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: se=man=tics

CIDE DICTIONARY

semantics, n. sing.  [Gr. shmantikos having meaning, from sh^ma a sign.].

•  the study of the meanings of words and of the sense development of words; -- formerly called semasiology.  [PJC]
•  a doctrine and philosophical approach to language and its relationship to thought and behavior, developed by Alfred Korzybski (1879-1950), which holds that the capacity to express ideas and thereby improve one's interaction with others and one's environment is enhanced by training in the more critical use of words and other symbols; -- also called general semantics.  [PJC]
•  the meanings of words as they are used to achieve an effect; especially, the multiple meanings of words or the multiplicity of words having the same meaning; -- used in referring to the confusion that can be caused (intentionally or unintentionally) by multiple meanings; as, there's no real difference, it's only a matter of semantics.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

semantics, n.pl. (usu. treated as sing.) the branch of linguistics concerned with meaning.

Derivative

semantician n. semanticist n.

THESAURUS

semantics

bowwow theory, comparative linguistics, derivation, descriptive linguistics, dialectology, dingdong theory, etymology, glossematics, glossography, glossology, glottochronology, glottology, grammar, graphemics, historical linguistics, language study, lexicography, lexicology, lexicostatistics, lexigraphy, linguistic geography, linguistic science, linguistics, mathematical linguistics, morphology, morphophonemics, onomasiology, onomastics, onomatology, paleography, philology, phonetics, phonology, psycholinguistics, semasiology, semiotic, semiotics, significs, sociolinguistics, structuralism, syntactics, transformational linguistics