Standard Lemma guide

polysemic

adj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /pəˈlɪs.ɪ.mɪk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /pɒ.lɪˈsiː.mɪk/

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having a number of senses (meanings) or understandings.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: polysemantic, polysemous

Antonyms: monosemantic, monosemic, monosemous, univocal

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pleh1- Proto-Indo-European *polh1ús Ancient Greek πολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)lbor. English poly- Ancient Greek σῆμα (sêma)lbor. English seme English polyseme Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icuslbor. Old French -iquebor. Middle English -ik English -ic English polysemic From polyseme + -ic.