How to Use semantics in a Sentence

semantics

noun
  • Lucky for me, Hugo prefers to listen to birds rustling in the branches than semantics.
    Anchorage Daily News, 14 Mar. 2021
  • It’s not the DNA of the music or the movement or all the semantics that are below the surface level.
    Josh Chesler, SPIN, 9 July 2022
  • The conflict over the surplus size is about semantics, not math.
    George Skelton, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2021
  • In short: The divide involves a lot of semantics and reading between the lines.
    Lucinda Shen, Fortune, 22 Sep. 2020
  • Fancy semantics aside, the halo draws your eye from the sharp, pointed bow, along the sleek steel hull and down to the large swim platform aft.
    Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 22 July 2022
  • There is a point to this game of political semantics, says Stone Fish.
    Yaffa Fredrick, CNN, 8 Nov. 2021
  • For now, the demise of the slot cornerback term in favor of cover safety might mostly be about semantics.
    Nathan Baird, cleveland, 23 Aug. 2021
  • But there’s advice to the president which is don't argue over semantics, that's my job as a language guy.
    ABC News, 31 July 2022
  • Because surely those semantics would be okay if someone were talking about her in the same manner.
    Jean Bentley, refinery29.com, 27 May 2020
  • It may not be called a retrospective, but that’s semantics.
    Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 17 Nov. 2022
  • Appointing a Phaneesh or Nwamaka instead of a Bob turns out to be more than a play with semantics.
    Christian Stadler, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2021
  • But the difference between the part of the IRGC that represses foreigners and the one repressing us at home is semantics.
    Hossein Ronaghi, WSJ, 17 May 2022
  • Most Valuable Player Award may be doomed to failure because of semantics.
    New York Times, 22 Dec. 2021
  • Also like language, from the immune system’s perspective, the sequence could also be said to have a kind of semantics.
    Gregory Barber, Wired, 14 Jan. 2021
  • But the battle of semantics is a cover for a turf war that involves not just place but memory and reality.
    Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2021
  • Whether or not monkeypox is an STI is largely a case of semantics, Harvey and other experts say.
    Erin Prater, Fortune, 27 Aug. 2022
  • In fact, their semantics pose the greatest threat to the transgender community and society at large.
    Ryan T. Anderson, National Review, 15 June 2022
  • The new work on semantics was completely independent of the work on memory — the two unfolding at around the same time but on opposite sides of the United States.
    Quanta Magazine, 8 Feb. 2022
  • Identifying these actions as a hate crime isn’t just about semantics.
    NBC News, 18 Mar. 2021
  • Capturing their bodies in the half-light, out of focus, from above, and behind, the camera finds a visual language of disturbing semantics.
    Leo Barraclough, Variety, 10 Feb. 2022
  • Russian grammar is similar to Ukrainian — perhaps a tad closer than, say, Ukrainian and Polish — but the semantics are not that close.
    New York Times, 22 Apr. 2022
  • Angie does seem to enjoy playing with semantics and never owning up to anything.
    Scott D. Pierce, The Salt Lake Tribune, 2 Nov. 2022
  • Sidewalk semantics aside, at least a few Faulconer critics took issue with him regarding homeless tents in San Diego.
    Michael Smolens Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 July 2021
  • One key element of human language is semantics, the connection of words with meanings.
    Betsy Mason, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Feb. 2022
  • For an actor intent on hearing the music in his work—someone who played bongos on the set of Leaving Las Vegas to hone his line delivery—the job title is a matter of semantics.
    Dan Piepenbring, Harper’s Magazine , 18 Jan. 2022
  • The league says race-norming was never mandatory, but that's simply semantics, because the NFL appealed some claims filed by Black players if their scores weren't adjusted for race.
    Mike Freeman, USA TODAY, 2 June 2021
  • Farming doesn’t even have a universal definition among humans, and the semantics only get messier when the concept is applied to other species.
    Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 11 July 2022
  • Always by using ‘yes-no’ questions, independent of the semantics of the messages themselves.
    Gabriel A. Silva, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2021
  • But a lot of it comes down to arguments about semantics or definitions or values or perspective.
    Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 13 Sep. 2022
  • There should be no dispute about the severity of what happened, but semantics and partisan disagreement over the culpability of Trump and his campaign got in the way.
    Michael Smolens Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Aug. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'semantics.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: