semantic bleaching

Noun

semantic bleaching (usually uncountable, plural semantic bleachings)

1. (usually) The process of a term losing its intensity over time.
   • Another type of status change is semantic bleaching, where the original meaning of the word has been eroded away and generalized by heavy usage, as in words like very (originally “true”), awful (“full of awe”), terrible (“able to cause terror”).[2001 July 5, Robert Stockwell, Donka Minkova, “Semantic change, guesswork”, in English Words: History and Structure, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 157
   • Before answering the question regarding whether the Slavonic modals exhibit semantic bleaching or not, we have to describe the semantic space of modality as it is represented in three Slavonic languages.2009 February 26, Björn Hansen, “Modals and the boundaries of grammaticalization: the case of Russian, Polish and Serbian–Croatian”, in Björn Wiemer, Nikolaus P. Himmelmann, Walter Bisang, editors...