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/sˈɪgnəfˌaɪ/ Listen

verb

Signify v. t. (past & past part. signified; pres. part. signifying)

To show by a sign; to communicate by any conventional token, as words, gestures, signals, or the like; to announce; to make known; to declare; to express; as, a signified his desire to be present. "I 'll to the king; and signify to him That thus I have resign'd my charge to you." "The government should signify to the Protestants of Ireland that want of silver is not to be remedied."

To mean; to import; to denote; to betoken. "He bade her tell him what it signified." "A tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing." Note: Signify is often used impersonally; as, it signifies nothing, it does not signify, that is, it is of no importance.

Synonyms: To express; manifest; declare; utter; intimate; betoken; denote; imply; mean.

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Etymology of 'Signify'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Signify" Quotes from Famous Books

... the weight of it, and then the cost of it. Even women are judged by their weight. Only last night I saw in the papers something about a suffragette. They said she weighed one hundred and fifty pounds! I think it is a mistake, myself. Tonnage is all right in a ship; but it doesn't signify much, either in a city or ...

— Aliens • William McFee

... stood for a moment looking on the ground, as if he were ransacking his ingenuity to see what else he could do to save his father's reputation. Then, with a little cold sigh, he seemed to signify that he regretfully surrendered the late marquis to the penalty of his turpitude. He gave a hardly perceptible shrug, took his neat umbrella from the servant in the vestibule, and, with his gentlemanly walk, passed ...

— The American • Henry James

... in the discussions. But it is almost needless to add that the evacuation of Naples and of Piedmont was a measure with respect to which, though the Plenipotentiary of Great Britain was not entitled to give or to withhold the concurrence of his Government, he could not but signify ...

— Selected Speeches on British Foreign Policy 1738-1914 • Edgar Jones

... of these rocks was rudely carved by unmistakably Indian art. There were portrayed a rising sun, tigers' feet, birds' feet, etc. Why were they thus carved? Are those rocks the everlasting recorders of some old history—some deed of Indian daring in days of old? What these hieroglyphics signify we may never know; the workman is gone, and his stone hammer is buried with him. To twentieth century civilization his carving tells nothing. No Indians inhabit the shores of the lake now, perhaps because of this ...

— Through Five Republics on Horseback • G. Whitfield Ray

... dream beyond mere playtime. As matters stand one may be very American and yet arrange it with one's conscience to live in Europe. My imagination perhaps—I had a little when I was younger—helped me to think I should find happiness here. And after all, for a woman, what does it signify? This isn't America, no—this element, but it's quite as little France. France is out there beyond the garden, France is in the town and the forest; but here, close about me, in my room and"—she ...

— Madame de Mauves • Henry James

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