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CONCEPTUAL
MEANING
By Syeda Ayesha Kamran
 • Conceptual meaning is the literal
or core sense of a word.

DEFINITION
•It is not concerned with sub-texts
Conceptual meaning is also
or reading into the philosophy of
known as cognitive or
denotation. It is the
the word, it is only the dictionary
foundation for all other or literal definition of a word.
types of meanings.
 • The conceptual meaning of the
word ‘woman’ can be specified as,

I. Is a human
EXAMPLES II. Not a male
III. Is an adult

• Similarly, to describe the meaning

of the word ‘man’, we would say,

I. Is a human
II. Not a female
III. Is an adult
 •Similarly, the meaning of the word
‘house’ can be written as, ‘A building
for human habitation.’
EXAMPLES
•Looking at the sentence “It’s raining
cats and dogs,” the conceptual or
dictionary meaning would be for cats
and dogs to literally fall from the sky.