Standard Lemma guide

polysemous

adj · 2 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /pəˈlɪs.ɪ.məs/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌpɒl.ɪˈsiː.məs/
  • US: /ˌpɑːl.iˈsiː.məs/
  • US: /pəˈlɪs.ə.məs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Synonym of polysemic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, rhetoric

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: polysemic

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

of words; having many meanings

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: polysemantic

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Medieval Latin polysēmus, from Ancient Greek πολύσημος (polúsēmos), from πολύς (polús, “many”) + σημαίνω (sēmaínō, “I signify, mean”).

Across languages

Translations

26 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: многозна́чен (mnogoznáčen) — having multiple meanings
  • Catalan: polisèmic — having multiple meanings
  • Chinese Mandarin: 多義 /多义 (duōyì) — having multiple meanings
  • Czech: polysémický — having multiple meanings
  • Dutch: meerduidig — having multiple meanings
  • Dutch: veelduidig — having multiple meanings
  • Dutch: polyseem — having multiple meanings
  • Finnish: monimerkityksinen — having multiple meanings
  • French: polysémique — having multiple meanings
  • German: mehrdeutig — having multiple meanings
  • Greek: πολύσημος (polýsimos) — having multiple meanings
  • Hungarian: többjelentésű — having multiple meanings
  • Hungarian: poliszém — having multiple meanings
  • Icelandic: margrætt orð — having multiple meanings
  • Norwegian: polysemantisk — having multiple meanings
  • Norwegian: flertydig — having multiple meanings
  • Norwegian: mangetydig — having multiple meanings
  • Persian: پرمعنا (porrma'nâ) — having multiple meanings
  • Polish: polisemiczny — having multiple meanings
  • Polish: wieloznaczny — having multiple meanings
  • Portuguese: polissémico — having multiple meanings
  • Portuguese: polissêmico — having multiple meanings
  • Russian: многозна́чный (mnogoznáčnyj) — having multiple meanings
  • Spanish: polisémico — having multiple meanings
  • Spanish: polisemántico — having multiple meanings
  • Welsh: amlystyrol — having multiple meanings