MEANING | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary
/ Sign up
English (US)

Meaning of meaning in English

meaning
noun
us
/ˈmiː.nɪŋ/ uk
/ˈmiː.nɪŋ/

meaning noun (OF WORD/WRITING/SIGN, ETC.)

Add to word list Add to word list
B1 [ C or U ]
The meaning of something is what it expresses or represents:
The word "flight" has two different meanings: a plane trip, and the act of running away.
The meaning of his gesture was clear.
His novels often have (a) hidden meaning.
More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Meaning & significance
See more results »

meaning noun (IMPORTANCE)

B2 [ U ]
importance or value:
The birth of her first grandchild gave new meaning to her life.
Education had no great meaning for him until much later in his life.
More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Importance - general words
See more results »

Grammar

Nouns
Nouns are one of the four major word classes, along with verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Nouns are the largest word class. …
(Definition of meaning from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

meaning | Intermediate English

meaning
noun
us
/ˈmi·nɪŋ/

meaning noun (IMPORTANCE)

Add to word list Add to word list
[ U ]
importance or value:
Life had lost its meaning for her.

meaning noun (EXPRESSION)

[ C/U ]
what something represents or expresses:
[ C ] Do you know the meaning of this word?
[ C ] The word has several meanings.
(Definition of meaning from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of meaning

meaning
I don't think anybody would do something like this without meaning it.
From Huffington Post
I spent most of the 90s traveling the world, searching for the meaning of life.
From International Business Times
But it does run the risk that the meaning of sharing could become demeaned over time.
From The Verge
The suckers are also "chemotactic," meaning they can taste what they touch.
From ABC News
Those are actual physical events that have a well-defined meaning and time.
From Slate Magazine
These energy sources are non-renewable, meaning that once used, they can not be used again.
From National Geographic
The meaning of the diple changed over the centuries.
From Huffington Post
Some translators change the meaning of the men's words.
From San Francisco Chronicle
Those aged 18-20 are also adults and not "kids" or "teens", meaning they shouldn't be called those words.
From Washington Post
What won't be allowed, at least for now, is the sale of cars by companies to citizens, meaning that transactions can only be between individuals.
From International Business Times
When he asks for salt, she reveals herself and proves the meaning of her true feelings.
From NPR
People debated the document's meaning in taverns, on street corners and at polling places, where they sometimes came to blows.
From Washington Post
But why push hard to wall us off as ex-apes from these smart, savvy primates who make meaning in their own ways?
From NPR
Science doesn't deal in purpose and meaning; it deals in data and measurement.
From Huffington Post
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with meaning

meaning

These are words often used in combination with meaning.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

accepted meaning
Nicholson's starting point is the commonly accepted meaning of the word 'fusion' - the commercial imperative that led jazz to get into bed with rock at the end of the 1960s.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
allegorical meaning
In principle, we may suppose that at one extreme the allegorical meaning is merely top-dressing, an occasional implication sparked by a detail.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
connotative meaning
The results yielded three underlying dimensions of affective/connotative meaning (evaluation, potency, and activity) that accounted for much of the variance in ratings.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with meaning
What is the pronunciation of meaning?
 

Translations of meaning

in Chinese (Traditional)
符號或字詞, 意思，意義, 含義…
See more
in Chinese (Simplified)
符号或字词, 意思，意义, 含义…
See more
in Spanish
significado, sentido, significado [masculine…
See more
in Portuguese
significado, propósito, significado [masculine]…
See more
in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Russian
in Telugu
in Arabic
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
अर्थ, महत्व…
See more
意味, 価値, 意味（いみ）…
See more
anlam, mana, gaye…
See more
sens [masculine], signification [feminine], sens…
See more
significat, sentit…
See more
betekenis, veelbetekenend…
See more
ஏதோ ஒன்றின் பொருள், அது ஏதாவது ஒன்றை வெளிப்படுத்துகிறது அல்லது பிரதிபலிக்கிறது., முக்கியத்துவம் அல்லது மதிப்பு…
See more
तात्पर्य, अर्थ, मतलब…
See more
અર્થ, મહત્વ અથવા મૂલ્ય…
See more
betydning, mening, sigende…
See more
betydelse, mening, menande…
See more
maksud, bermakna…
See more
die Bedeutung, bedeutsam…
See more
betydning [masculine], mening [masculine], betydning…
See more
معنی, مطلب, مفہوم…
See more
значення, багатозначний, значущий…
See more
значение, смысл…
See more
అర్థం, ప్రాముఖ్యత లేదా విలువ…
See more
مَعْنى, هَدَف…
See more
অর্থ…
See more
význam, smysl, významný…
See more
arti, berarti…
See more
ความหมาย, สิ่งที่ตั้งใจจะพูดหรือบอก…
See more
ý nghĩa, có ý nghĩa…
See more
znaczenie, sens, znaczący…
See more
의미, 목적…
See more
significato, valore, significativo…
See more
Need a translator?

Get a quick, free translation!

Translator tool
 

Browse

meandered
meandering
meanderings
meanie
meaning
meaningful
meaningfully
meaningfulness
meaningless
has been added to list
To top
Contents
EnglishIntermediateExamplesCollocationsTranslations
English (US)   Change
English (UK) English (US) Español Русский Português Deutsch Français Italiano 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Polski 한국어 Türkçe 日本語 Tiếng Việt Nederlands Svenska Dansk Norsk हिंदी বাঙ্গালি मराठी ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు Українська
Follow us
Choose a dictionary
  • Recent and Recommended
  • Definitions
    Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English
    English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
  • Grammar and thesaurus
    Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English
    Grammar Thesaurus
  • Pronunciation
    British and American pronunciations with audio
    English Pronunciation
  • Translation
    Click on the arrows to change the translation direction.
    Bilingual Dictionaries
    • English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
    • English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
    • English–Dutch Dutch–English
    • English–French French–English
    • English–German German–English
    • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
    • English–Italian Italian–English
    • English–Japanese Japanese–English
    • English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
    • English–Polish Polish–English
    • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
    • English–Spanish Spanish–English
    • English–Swedish Swedish–English
    Semi-bilingual Dictionaries
    English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Danish English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese
  • Dictionary +Plus
    Word Lists
Contents
My word lists

To add meaning to a word list please sign up or log in.

Sign up or Log in
My word lists

Add meaning to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

More
Go to your word lists
Tell us about this example sentence: