These nouns refer to the ideas conveyed by words, phrases, symbols, actions or events. Meaning has the widest range of use, embracing everything from specific, concrete denotation to a general suggestiveness. The meaning of a word, sign or symbol is the idea it expresses, the object it designates or the concept it conveys. Words may have both literal and figurative meanings, both of which can be expressed in definitions, but the meaning of a word in any given instance often depends upon the context in which the word id used. In less restricted usage, meaning may apply to anything expressed as a message or intent, whether verbally or in some other fashion: to look for an artist’s meaning in his paintings. Meaning may also apply to motivation, purpose, consequence or even justification.

• We debated the meaning of his strange behaviour; What is the meaning of this intrusion?; the real meaning of the Common Market.

Finally, in its most abstract, connotative use, meaning simply indicates expressiveness, pointing to the presence of valuable insights or important intimations without specifying what they are.

• His speech struck them as being full of meaning , in contrast to the hollow proclamations of the others.

Signification relates to specific meaning. It points to an official or agreed-upon meaning, one recognized and understood by all who are acquainted with a certain word, term or symbol: the significations of standard abbreviations such as lb. And oz.; the signification of heraldic bearings on a coat of arms; the legal signification of the word "incompetent." Sense compares with meaning in a broad as well as a narrow application. It often pints to different kinds of use or interpretation, implying that a word has two or more meanings or ranges of meaning, or that a text has two or more levels of meaning: a punster playing on widely different senses of the same word; the symbolic sense of Moby Dick. Unlike signification , which is confined to a fixed meaning , sense may indicate a connotation or understanding: He is a liberal in the best sense of the word. It may also refer to an overall meaning or impression: to get the sense of an article written in a foreign language, even though some of the words may be unfamiliar. Something that makes sense conveys a clear, understandable or logical meaning .

Import is a less clear-cut than signification , indicating an intended meaning that may need interpretation. More than meaning , it indicates the grasping of an idea, pointing to someone’s understanding of what has been suggested or expressed.

• He stated the meaning of the passage in a paraphrase; Commentators explained the import of the Governor-General’s speech; She guessed the import of her friend’s long silence.

Implication applies to meaning that may have been hinted at but that has not been actually stated or expressed in so many words. It emphasizes suggestiveness, referring almost exclusively to debatable possibilities of interpretation inherent in a statement, act or situation. Implication is thus not nearly so certain as import , contrasting even more strongly with the precision and definiteness of signification . Nevertheless, the implications of a thing, read rightly, may be far more important to a proper understanding of it than its literal or surface meaning.

• He was pleasant and polite, but the sinister implications of is remarks were not lost on his audience; She misinterpreted the implications of his letter and thus misunderstood his intentions.

Significance is akin to meaning in its wider sense . It mingles meaning and importance, referring to the underlying ideas or implications that give to words, deeds, symbols or events a special relevance.

• His remarks were fraught with significance , but few gathered their full import.

Significance may also be used in a specific sense , suggesting a need to determine which of several possibilities is most relevant.

• The meaning of their statement refusing to negotiate was never in any doubt; Its import of cooler relations between the two countries is also plain; But what significance , if any, do you place on the statement’s mildness of tone?