floating signifier
floating signifier noun: a signifier—that is, a linguistic sign, a label or slogan—with a vague and variable meaning.
Noun
floating signifier (plural floating signifiers)
- A signifier—that is, a linguistic sign, a label or slogan—with a vague and variable meaning.
- However, the elite as a target for populist resentments remains quite fuzzy and rather serves as a floating signifier oscillating between the ‘political establishment’, the ‘economic elite’, the ‘cultural elite’ and the ‘media elite’: in short, one homogenous corrupt group that works against the...2020, Ina Kudde, Miranda Loli, “Corruption and populism: the linkage”, in Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Paul M. Heywood, editors, A Research Agenda for Studies of Corruption, →ISBN, page 122
- Synonyms:
- empty signifier, master signifier
Synonyms of floating signifier
Forms of floating signifier
| plural | floating signifiers |
|---|
Origin of floating signifier
Calque of French signifiant flottant as used by French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Questions about floating signifier
- What does floating signifier mean?
- Floating signifier means a signifier—that is, a linguistic sign, a label or slogan—with a vague and variable meaning.
- What part of speech is floating signifier?
- Floating signifier is a noun.
- What is the plural of floating signifier?
- The plural of floating signifier is floating signifiers.
Words near floating signifier in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: floating signifier (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “floating signifier.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/floating_signifier. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.