Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
Why the real meaning of a word is how it is used now
Meaning, for anyone listening, is the shared pattern of use, not a private definition.
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From the opening
For communication, the meaning of a word is the pattern of use a community shares now: which situations fit, which words contrast with it, and which sentences listeners accept. A private definition that nobody else is using cannot do that public job. The opening covers shared use beats a private hope, a new sense beside an old one, and jargon is shared inside its field.
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Inside
- Shared use beats a private hope
- A new sense beside an old one
- Jargon is shared inside its field
- Older texts need their own usage
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Meaning as a shared pattern of present use
- Dictionaries adding senses from recorded citations