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Semantics vs Pragmatic - What's the difference?

semantics | pragmatic |

As adjectives the difference between semantics and pragmatic

is that semantics is while pragmatic is practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.

semantics

English

Noun

(wikipedia semantics) (-)
  • (linguistics) A branch of linguistics studying the meaning of words.
  • Semantics is a foundation of lexicography.
  • The study of the relationship between words and their meanings.
  • * 2006 , Patrick Blackburn, Johan Bos, and Kristina Striegnitz, [http://www.learnprolognow.org/lpnpage.php?pagetype=html&pageid=lpn-htmlse32 Learn Prolog Now!] , section 8.1:
  • In fact, nowadays a lot is known about the semantics of natural languages, and it is surprisingly easy to build semantic representations which partially capture the meaning of sentences or even entire discourses.
  • The individual meanings of words, as opposed to the overall meaning of a passage.
  • The semantics of the terms used are debatable.
    The semantics of a single preposition is a dissertation in itself.

    Derived terms

    * algebraic semantics * axiomatic semantics * computational semantics * denotational semantics * formal semantics * lexical semantics * mathematical semantics * operational semantics * statistical semantics

    See also

    *

    pragmatic

    English

    Alternative forms

    * pragmatick (archaic) * pragmatique (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.
  • * The sturdy furniture in the student lounge was pragmatic , but unattractive.
  • *
  • Nor indeed are these restrictions pragmatic'' in nature: i.e. the ill-formedness of the ''heed''-sentences in (60) is entirely different in kind from the oddity of sentences like:
    (61)      !That man will eat any car which thinks he?s stupid
    which is purely ''pragmatic
    (i.e. lies in the fact that (61) describes the kind of bizarre situation which just doesn?t happen in the world we are familiar with, where cars don?t think, and people don?t eat cars).
  • philosophical; dealing with causes, reasons, and effects, rather than with details and circumstances; said of literature.
  • * Sir W. Hamilton
  • Pragmatic history.
  • * M. Arnold
  • Pragmatic poetry.

    Synonyms

    * (practical) down-to-earth, functional, practical, utilitarian, realistic

    Antonyms

    * idealistic

    Derived terms

    * pragma * pragmatically * pragmaticism * pragmatics