signification

signification
    n 1: the message that is intended or expressed or signified;
         "what is the meaning of this sentence"; "the significance
         of a red traffic light"; "the signification of Chinese
         characters"; "the import of his announcement was ambiguous"
         [syn: {meaning}, {significance}, {signification}, {import}]
    

Signification \Sig`ni*fi*ca"tion\, n. [F. signification, L.
   significatio.]
   1. The act of signifying; a making known by signs or other
      means.
      [1913 Webster]

            A signification of being pleased.     --Landor.
      [1913 Webster]

            All speaking or signification of one's mind implies
            an act or addres of one man to another. --South.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. That which is signified or made known; that meaning which
      a sign, character, or token is intended to convey; as, the
      signification of words.
      [1913 Webster]
    

SIGNIFICATION, French law. The notice given of a decree, sentence or other 
judicial act. 
    

96 Moby Thesaurus words for "signification":
      acceptation, affective meaning, allocation, assignment,
      attribution, bearing, characterization, coloring, connotation,
      consequence, construction, denomination, denotation, designation,
      determination, differentiation, disclosure, drift, effect, essence,
      expression, extension, fingering, fixing, force, gist,
      grammatical meaning, hint, idea, identification, impact,
      implication, import, indication, indicativeness, intendment,
      intension, lexical meaning, literal meaning, magnitude,
      manifestation, meaning, message, moment, momentousness, naming,
      overtone, pertinence, picking out, pinning down, pith, point,
      pointing, pointing out, pointing to, practical consequence,
      precision, purport, range of meaning, real meaning, reference,
      referent, relation, relevance, scope, selection, semantic cluster,
      semantic field, sense, show, showing, significance, significancy,
      significatum, signifie, signifying, span of meaning, specification,
      spirit, stipulation, structural meaning, substance, suggestion,
      sum, sum and substance, symbolic meaning, symptomaticness, tenor,
      totality of associations, transferred meaning, unadorned meaning,
      understanding, undertone, value, weight, weightiness