Word.ws English Dictionary

polysemous

UK/pəˈlɪs.ɪ.məs//ˌpɑːl.iˈsiː.məs/

polysemous adjective: synonym of polysemic.

Adjective

polysemous (not comparable)

  1. (rhetoric) Synonym of polysemic.
    • But just how are the meanings associated with a polysemous word related? A look at the entries for polysemous words in different dictionaries shows that lexicographers cannot agree on how to divide up the semantic space […]2000, Yael Ravin, Claudia Leacock, Polysemy: Theoretical and Computational Approaches, Oxford: OUP, →ISBN, page 52
    Synonyms:
    polysemic

polysemous meaning in Persian

polysemous in Persian

having multiple meanings
پرمعنا porrma'nâ

Synonyms of polysemous

Origin of polysemous

From Medieval Latin polysēmus, from Ancient Greek πολύσημος (polúsēmos), from πολύς (polús, “many”) + σημαίνω (sēmaínō, “I signify, mean”).

Words formed from polysemous

Questions about polysemous

What does polysemous mean?
Polysemous means synonym of polysemic.
What is polysemous in Persian?
Polysemous in Persian is پرمعنا (porrma'nâ). See Polysemous meaning in Persian.
What part of speech is polysemous?
Polysemous is an adjective.
How do you pronounce polysemous?
Polysemous is pronounced /pəˈlɪs.ɪ.məs/ (UK).

Words near polysemous in the dictionary

  1. polysemes
  2. polysemia
  3. polysemic
  4. polysemically
  5. polysemies
  6. polysemous
  7. polysemously
  8. polysemousness
  9. polysemy
  10. polysensitise
  11. polysensitised

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: polysemous (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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