semantic change

narrowing

when a word used to refer to many things within a category but now has a more specific definition e.g. ‘fowl’ used to refer to all birds but now only refers to farm birds

broadening

when words can change over time to apply to a larger number of things such as ‘mouse’, ‘cookie’ and ‘bookmark’ since the increase in technology

amelioration

when the meaning of a word changes to refer to something more positive over time such as how ‘nice’ originally meant ‘foolish’

pejoration

when the meaning of a word changed to refer to something more negative over time e.g. ‘villain’ used to mean poor person

euphemism

when you change the wording of taboo topics to make them less harsh e.g. ‘passed away’ instead of ‘died’

contranyms

a word which can have two almost opposing meanings e.g. ‘sanction’ can refer to a penalty for disobeying the law but also permission to do something

metaphorical extension

extension of a meaning in a different direction e.g. ‘bug’ referring both to the class of animals and also a problem you can have with a computer, the latter came around much later but has been completely adopted

bleaching

the weakening of the semantic content or load of a word e.g. how ‘epic’ no longer means long, expansive and arduous

metonymy

when a group of people or objects is referred to by something closely related to them e.g. referring to lawyers as ‘suits’

idiom

a commonly used phrase whose meaning is known by many people within a certain group (country) but may not make any sense to someone unfamiliar with it e.g. ‘the last straw’