signature

/ˈsɪɡ.nə.t͡ʃə/US/ˈsɪɡ.nə.t͡ʃɚ/

signature noun: a person's name, written by that person, used as identification or to signify approval of accompanying material, such as a legal contract.

Image: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

signature (plural signatures)

A person's name, written by that person, used as identification or to signify approval of accompanying material, such as a legal contract.
- Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language […] his clerks […] understood him very well. If he had written a love letter, or a farce, or a ballade, or a story, no one, either clerks, or friends, or compositors, would have understood anything but a word here and a word there. For his...1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC
Synonyms:

John Hancock, John Henry
An act of signing one's name; an act of producing a signature.
- IN COMMENTS during signature of the bill yesterday during “Agriculture Day” at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Thompson agreed with farmers that land needs to be protected.1977, Illinois Information Service, Press Summary - Illinois Information Service, page 4287
- [She ate with herself] during the whole evening, during supper, during her signature of unintelligible papers at her father's desk, when he told her gruffly that she would now have an income of £350 a year minus income tax, which would return to her in some mysterious way […]2011, Winifred Holtby, The Crowded Street, Virago, →ISBN
The part of a doctor’s prescription containing directions for the patient.
Signs on the stave indicating key and tempo, composed of the key signature and the time signature.
A group of four (or a multiple of four) sheets printed such that, when folded, they become a section of a book.
A pattern used for matching the identity of a virus, the parameter types of a method, etc.
Data attached to a message that guarantees that the message originated from its claimed source.
(figuratively) A mark or sign of implication.
- the natural and indelible signature of God, which human souls […] are supposed to be stamped with1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693
- The TACOM Vehicle Signature Reduction program is concerned with reducing the noise signature detectability of military vehicles in combat.1975, United States. Office of Noise Abatement and Control, First Report on Status and Progress of Noise Research and Control Programs in the Federal Government, volume 1, pages 6–13
A distinguishing feature or product.
- A great beginning is the goose-liver terrine with truffles, one of the chef's signatures.2000, Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince, Frommer's Rome 2001, page 97
A tuple specifying the sign of coefficients in any diagonal form of a quadratic form.
(obsolete) A resemblance between the external character of a disease and those of some physical agent, for instance, that existing between the red skin of scarlet fever and a red cloth; supposed to indicate this agent in the treatment of the disease.
(Internet) Text (or images, etc.) appended to a user's emails, newsgroup posts, forum posts, etc. as a way of adding a personal touch or including contact details.
- Your signature must not exceed three lines of text, or 600 pixels in height.
- forum signature generator
Synonyms:

sig, siggy

Adjective

signature (not generally comparable, comparative more signature, superlative most signature)

(not comparable, usually) Distinctive, characteristic, indicative of identity.
- Rabbit in mustard sauce is my signature dish.
- The signature route of the airline is its daily flight between Buenos Aires and Madrid.
Synonyms:

iconic

Verb

signature (third-person singular simple present signatures, present participle signaturing, simple past and past participle signatured)

(ambitransitive) To sign with one's signature, to write one's signature on.

Synonyms:

sign

signature meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

signature in Hindi

person’s autograph name: हस्ताक्षर hastākṣar, दस्तख़त dastxat

signature in Tamil

person’s autograph name: கையெழுத்து kaiyeḻuttu, கையொப்பம் kaiyoppam

signature in Marathi

person’s autograph name: सही sahī, स्वाक्षरी svākṣarī

signature in Urdu

person’s autograph name: دَسْتْخَط dastxat, دَسْت خَط dast xat, اِمْضا imzā

More languagesFewer languages

signature in Bengali: দস্তখত dostokhot, স্বাক্ষর śakkhor
signature in Telugu: సంతకము santakamu
signature in Malayalam: കൈയൊപ്പ്, ഒപ്പിടുന്ന പ്രവൃത്തി, ഐകാത്മ്യം വ്യക്തമാക്കുന്ന വൈശിഷ്ട്യം
signature in Kannada: ಸಹಿ sahi
signature in Punjabi: ਦਸਤਖ਼ਤ dastaxat
signature in Gujarati: સહી sahī
signature in Odia: ସହି sahi
signature in Sinhala: අත්සන atsana
signature in Assamese: চহী sohi
signature in Nepali: सही sahī
signature in Pashto: امضا emzā, دستخط dəstxat, توشيح tawših
signature in Tagalog: lagda, pirma, paglagda, pagpirma
signature in Arabic: تَوْقِيع tawqīʕ, إِمْضَاء ʔimḍāʔ
signature in Malay: tandatangan
signature in Indonesian: paraf, tanda tangan, kuras
signature in Thai: ลายเซ็น laai-sen
signature in Vietnamese: chữ ký
signature in Myanmar: ဆိုင်း hcuing:, လက်မှတ် lakhmat

Examples of signature in a sentence

For his signature, however, that was different.1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
A “signature” was placed on all things by God to indicate their affinities — but it was hidden, hence the search for arcane knowledge.1997, Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, Totem Books, Icon Books, →ISBN, The Renaissance Episteme, page 67:
Consider Las Fallas of Valencia, Spain, arguably the most signature of signature ephemera.2001, Lawrence J. Vale, Sam Bass Warner, Imaging the city: continuing struggles and new directions:
Considered the most signature effect of the Tudor Revival style, half-timbering derived its distinctive[…].2005, Paul Duchscherer, Linda Svendsen, Beyond the bungalow: grand homes in the arts & crafts tradition:

All 40 example sentences with signature

Synonyms of signature

All synonyms of signature

Forms of signature

Noun
plural	signatures
Adjective
comparative	more signature
superlative	most signature
Verb
third-person singular present	signatures
present participle	signaturing
past participle	signatured
past	signatured

Plural of signature: signatures

Origin of signature

Borrowed from Middle French signature, or from Medieval Latin signātūra, future active periphrastic of verb signāre from signum (“sign”), + -tūra, feminine of -tūrus, future active periphrastic suffix. Displaced native Old English handseten (literally “hand setting”).

Phrases with signature

Questions about signature

What does signature mean?: Signature means a person's name, written by that person, used as identification or to signify approval of accompanying material, such as a legal contract.
What is signature in Hindi?: Signature in Hindi is हस्ताक्षर (hastākṣar), दस्तख़त (dastxat). See Signature meaning in Hindi.
How do you use signature in a sentence?: For his signature, however, that was different.
What part of speech is signature?: Signature can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce signature?: Signature is pronounced /ˈsɪɡ.nə.t͡ʃə/ (UK).
What is the plural of signature?: The plural of signature is signatures.

Words near signature in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: signature (page history and authors); signature (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਦਸਤਖ਼ਤ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); સહી (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ସହି (Odia) (page history and authors); सही (Nepali) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-signature.wav.

Cite this entry: “signature.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/signature. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.