Chapter XXIV: Section I: Nature of Ideas Communicated

516. [Idea to be conveyed.] Meaning [Thing signified.] — N. meaning; signification, significance; sense, expression; import, purport; force; drift, tenor, spirit, bearing, coloring; scope. [important part of the meaning] substance; gist, essence, marrow, spirit &c 5. matter; subject, subject matter; argument, text, sum and substance. general meaning, broad meaning, substantial meaning, colloquial meaning, literal meaning, plain meaning, simple meaning, natural meaning, unstrained meaning, true meaning, &c (exact) 494 honest meaning, &c 543 prima facie meaning [Lat.]; &c (manifest) 525. letter of the law. literally; after acceptation. synonym; implication, allusion &c (latency) 526; suggestion &c (information) 527; figure of speech &c 521; acceptation &c (interpretation) 522. V. mean, signify, express; import, purport; convey, imply, breathe, indicate, bespeak, bear a sense; tell of, speak of; touch on; point to, allude to; drive at; involve &c (latency) 526; declare &c (affirm) 535. understand by &c (interpret) 522. Adj. meaning &c v.; expressive, suggestive, allusive; significant, significative†, significatory†; pithy; full of meaning, pregnant with meaning. declaratory &c 535; intelligible &c 518; literal; synonymous; tantamount &c (equivalent) 27; implied &c (latent) 526; explicit &c 525. Adv. to that effect; that is to say &c (being interpreted) 522.

517. [Absence of meaning.] Unmeaningness — N. meaninglessness, unmeaningness &c adj.†; scrabble. empty sound, dead letter, vox et praeterea nihil [Lat.]; a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing; sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. nonsense, utter nonsense, gibberish; jargon, jabber, mere words, hocus-pocus, fustian, rant, bombast, balderdash, palaver, flummery, verbiage, babble, baverdage, baragouin†, platitude, niaiserie†; inanity; flap-doodle; rigmarole, rodomontade; truism; nugae canorae [Lat.]; twaddle, twattle, fudge, trash, garbage, humbug; poppy-cock [U.S.]; stuff, stuff and nonsense; bosh, rubbish, moonshine, wish-wash, fiddle- faddle; absurdity &c 497; vagueness &c (unintelligibility) 519. [routine or reflexive statements without substantive thought, esp. legal] boilerplate, clich. V. mean nothing; be unmeaning &c adj.; twaddle, quibble, scrabble. Adj. unmeaning; meaningless, senseless; nonsensical; void of sense &c 516. inexpressive, unexpressive; vacant; not significant &c 516; insignificant. trashy, washy, trumpery, trivial, fiddle-faddle, twaddling, quibbling. unmeant, not expressed; tacit &c (latent) 526. inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable.

518. Intelligibility — N. intelligibility; clearness, explicitness &c adj.; lucidity, comprehensibility, perspicuity; legibility, plain speaking &c (manifestation) 525; precision &c 494; phonanta synetoisy [Gr.]; a word to the wise. V. be intelligible &c adj.; speak for itself, speak volumes; tell its own tale, lie on the surface. render intelligible &c adj.; popularize, simplify, clear up; elucidate &c (explain) 522. understand, comprehend, take, take in; catch, grasp, follow, collect, master, make out; see with half an eye, see daylight, see one's way; enter into the ideas of; come to an understanding. Adj. intelligible; clear, clear as day, clear as noonday; lucid; perspicuous, transpicuous†; luminous, transparent. easily understood, easy to understand, for the million, intelligible to the meanest capacity, popularized. plain, distinct, explicit; positive; definite &c (precise) 494. graphic; expressive &c (meaning) 516; illustrative &c (explanatory) 522. unambiguous, unequivocal, unmistakable &c (manifest) 525; unconfused; legible, recognizable; obvious &c 525. Adv. in plain terms, in plain words, in plain English. Phr. he that runs may read &c (manifest) 525.

519. Unintelligibility — N. unintelligibility; incomprehensibility, imperspicuity†; inconceivableness, vagueness &c adj.; obscurity; ambiguity &c 520; doubtful meaning; uncertainty &c 475; perplexity &c (confusion) 59; spinosity†; obscurum per obscurius [Lat.]; mystification &c (concealment) 528; latency &c 526; transcendentalism. paradox, oxymoron; riddle, enigma, puzzle &c (secret) 533; diagnus vindice nodus [Lat.]; sealed book; steganography†, freemasonry. pons asinorum [Lat.], asses' bridge; high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew; jargon &c (unmeaning) 517. V. be unintelligible &c adj.; require explanation &c 522; have a doubtful meaning, pass comprehension. render unintelligible &c adj.; conceal &c 528; darken &c 421; confuse &c (derange) 61; perplex &c (bewilder) 475. not understand &c 518; lose, lose the clue; miss; not know what to make of, be able to make nothing of, give it up; not be able to account for, not be able to make either head or tail of; be at sea &c (uncertain) 475; wonder &c 870; see through a glass darkly &c (ignorance) 491. not understand one another; play at cross purposes &c (misinterpret) 523. Adj. unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable, unfathomable; incognizable†, inexplicable, inscrutable; inapprehensible†, incomprehensible; insolvable†, insoluble; impenetrable. illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical; enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret) 533; indecipherable. obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery; opaque, dense; undiscernible &c (invisible) 447 [Obs.]; misty &c (opaque) 426; hidden &c 528; latent &c 526. indefinite, garbled &c (indistinct) 447; perplexed &c (confused) 59; undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous; mysterious; mystic, mystical; acroamatic†, acroamatical†; metempirical; transcendental; occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed. inconceivable, inconceptible†; searchless†; above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension; beyond one's depth; unconceived. inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable. unpredictable, unforeseeable. Phr. it's Greek to me.

520. [Having a double sense] Equivocalness — N. equivocalness &c adj.; double meaning &c 516; ambiguity, double entente, double entendre [Fr.], pun, paragram†, calembour†, quibble, equivoque [Fr.], anagram; conundrum &c (riddle) 533; play on words, word play &c (wit) 842; homonym, homonymy [Gramm.]; amphiboly†, amphibology†; ambilogy†, ambiloquy†. Sphinx, Delphic oracle. equivocation &c (duplicity) 544; white lie, mental reservation &c (concealment) 528; paltering. V. be equivocal &c adj.; have two meanings &c 516; equivocate &c (alter) 544. Adj. equivocal, ambiguous, amphibolous†, homonymous†; double-tongued &c (lying) 544; enigmatical, indeterminate. Phr. on the one hand, on the other hand.

521. Metaphor — N. figure of speech; facon de parler [Fr.], way of speaking, colloquialism. phrase &c 566; figure, trope, metaphor, enallage†, catachresis†; metonymy [Gramm.], synecdoche [Sem.]; autonomasia†, irony, figurativeness &c adj.; image, imagery; metalepsis†, type, anagoge†, simile, personification, prosopopoeia†, allegory, apologue†, parable, fable; allusion, adumbration; application. exaggeration, hyperbole &c 549. association, association of ideas (analogy) 514.1 V. employ a metaphor &c n.; personify, allegorize, adumbrate, shadow forth, apply, allude to. Adj. metaphorical, figurative, catachrestical†, typical, tralatitious†, parabolic, allegorical, allusive, anagogical†; ironical; colloquial; tropical. Adv. so to speak, so to say, so to express oneself; as it were. Phr. mutato nomine de te fabula narratur [Lat.] [Horace].

522. Interpretation — N. interpretation, definition; explanation, explication; solution, answer; rationale; plain interpretation, simple interpretation, strict interpretation; meaning &c 516. translation; rendering, rendition; redition†; literal translation, free translation; key; secret; clew &c (indication) 550; clavis†, crib, pony, trot [U.S.]. exegesis; expounding, exposition; hermeneutics; comment, commentary; inference &c (deduction) 480; illustration, exemplification; gloss, annotation, scholium†, note; elucidation, dilucidation†; eclaircissement [Fr.], mot d'enigme [Fr.]. [methods of interpreting - list] symptomatology [Med.], semiology, semeiology†, semiotics; metoposcopy†, physiognomy; paleography &c (philology) 560; oneirology acception†, acceptation, acceptance; light, reading, lection, construction, version. equivalent, equivalent meaning &c 516; synonym; paraphrase, metaphrase†; convertible terms, apposition; dictionary &c 562; polyglot. V. interpret, explain, define, construe, translate, render; do into, turn into; transfuse the sense of. find out &c 480.1 the meaning of, &c 516 read; spell out, make out; decipher, unravel, disentangle; find the key of, enucleate, resolve, solve; read between the lines. account for; find the cause, tell the cause of &c 153; throw light upon, shed light upon, shed new light upon, shed fresh light upon; clear up, clarify, elucidate. illustrate, exemplify; unfold, expound, comment upon, annotate; popularize &c (render intelligible) 518. take in a particular sense, understand in a particular sense, receive in a particular sense, accept in a particular sense; understand by, put a construction on, be given to understand. Adj. explanatory, expository; explicative, explicatory; exegetical†; construable. polyglot; literal; paraphrastic, metaphrastic†; consignificative†, synonymous; equivalent &c 27. Adv. in explanation &c n.; that is to say, id est, videlicet, to wit, namely, in other words. literally, strictly speaking; in plain, in plainer terms, in plainer words, in plainer English; more simply.

523. Misinterpretation — N. misinterpretation, misapprehension, misunderstanding, misacceptation†, misconstruction, misapplication; catachresis†; eisegesis†; cross-reading, cross-purposes; mistake &c 495. misrepresentation, perversion, exaggeration &c 549; false coloring, false construction; abuse of terms; parody, travesty; falsification &c (lying) 544. V. misinterpret, misapprehend, misunderstand, misconceive, misspell, mistranslate, misconstrue, misapply; mistake &c 495. misrepresent, pervert; explain wrongly, misstate; garble &c (falsify) 544; distort, detort†; travesty, play upon words; stretch the sense, strain the sense, stretch the meaning, strain the meaning, wrest the sense, wrest the meaning; explain away; put a bad construction on, put a false construction on; give a false coloring. be at cross purposes, play at cross purposes. Adj. misinterpreted &c v.; untranslated, untranslatable.

524. Interpreter — N. interpreter; expositor, expounder, exponent, explainer; demonstrator. scholiast, commentator, annotator; metaphrast†, paraphrast†; glossarist†, prolocutor. spokesman, speaker, mouthpiece. dragoman, courier, valet de place, cicerone, showman; oneirocritic†; (Edipus; oracle) &c 513