Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It can be applied to entire texts or to single words. Semantics largely determines our reading comprehension and how we understand language. In linguistics, semantics is the subfield that studies meaning, and it can address meaning at the levels of words, phrases, sentences, or larger units of discourse. Two of the fundamental issues in the field of semantics are compositional semantics, which applies to how smaller parts, like words, combine and interact to form the meaning of larger expressions, such as sentences, and lexical semantics, which investigates the nature of the meaning of words.
Semantics can also refer to the language used to achieve a desired effect on an audience, especially through the use of words with novel or dual meanings. In the context of computer science, semantics refers to the meaning behind programming language constructs, distinguishing it from their mere syntax, which is the arrangement of symbols and keywords.
In summary, semantics is the study of meaning in language, and it can be applied to entire texts or to single words. It is a subfield of linguistics that addresses meaning at different levels of language, and it can also refer to the language used to achieve a desired effect on an audience.
