signal
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
Any variation of a quantity or change in an entity over time that conveys information upon detection.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
signuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɪɡnəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A sign made to give notice of some occurrence, command, or danger, or to indicate the start of a concerted action.
Any variation of a quantity or change in an entity over time that conveys information upon detection.
A sequence of states representing an encoded message in a communication channel.
An on-off light, semaphore, or other device used to give an indication to another person.
An action, change or process done to convey information and thus reduce uncertainty.
Useful information, as opposed to noise.
verb
Communicate silently and non-verbally by signals or signs
“He signed his disapproval with a dismissive hand gesture.”
Be a signal for or a symptom of
transitive
To communicate with (a person or system) by a signal.
adjective
Standing above others in rank, importance, or achievement.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any variation of a quantity or change in an entity over time that conveys information upon detection.
Used this way, signal is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use signal
- “Signals from the boat suddenly stopped.”noun
- “He awaited the signal to start.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Any nonverbal action or gesture that encodes a message.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Someone who can use sign language to communicate.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Intelligence information gathered from communications intelligence or electronics intelligence or telemetry intelligence.
The person who plays quarterback.
The detection that a signal is being received.
A fire set as a signal.
A rectangular piece of fabric used as a signalling device.
The amplitude level of the desired signal.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.