semiotics

noun se·mi·ot·ics \ ˌsē-mē-ˈä-tiks , ˌse-mē- , ˌsē-ˌmī- \

variants: or semiotic play \ˌsē-mē-ˈä-tik, ˌse-mē-, ˌsē-ˌmī-\

|Updated on: 28 Jun 2018

Definition of semiotics

plural semiotics

: a general philosophical theory of signs and symbols that deals especially with their function in both artificially constructed and natural languages and comprises syntactics, semantics, and pragmatics

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semiotic

adjective

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semiotician

play \ˌsē-mē-ə-ˈti-shən, ˌse-mē-, ˌsē-ˌmī-\ noun

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semioticist

play \ˌsē-mē-ˈä-tə-sist, ˌse-mē-, ˌsē-ˌmī-\ noun

See semiotics defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of semiotics from the Web

As Benjamin, Eli Gelb seems to have walked onto the Laura Pels stage directly from a semiotics course at Brown; and Will Brittain brings dignity to the prototypical dumb jock, even if he is often made to do so while wearing one.

— jesse green, New York Times, "Review: With ‘Skintight,’ Idina Menzel Takes On a Straight Play. Sort Of.," 21 June 2018
Like those artists, Mr. Leonilson painted curious figures in bright flat fields of color, adding bits of language, in keeping with a postmodern era in which semiotics and other theories were central elements in art.

— roberta smith and martha schwendener, New York Times, "What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week," 10 Jan. 2018
Like many online and off in today’s political culture, Zuckerberg devotes a lot of mental energy to the semiotics of communication — what different units of language or imagery mean, and how our individual and social appetite for meaning leads us to engage and react to different forms of content.

— james poulos, Orange County Register, "Violence not something that social media can easily tame," 22 Apr. 2017
Still, whether the act of appropriation was an endorsement of Sanders’s brand of democratic socialism or a move meant to bait the world’s semiotics professors is likely to remain up for debate.

— erika harwood, Vanities, "Bernie Sanders Got a Tribute at Paris Fashion Week," 18 Jan. 2017
We’re watching the semiotics come together in front of our eyes.

— andrew marantz, The New Yorker, "Studio 360," 25 Apr. 2016
The language games were like something out of a semiotics classroom.

— stephen marche, Esquire, "20 Years Later, Pulp Fiction Defines Us Right Now," 15 Oct. 2014

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'semiotics.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.