A semantic field is a set of words linked by meaning. It deals with the meanings that a single word presents when inserted into contexts .

It is, therefore, the sum of the various meanings that a single word can have. Consider the semantic field of "disembodiment": to pass away, to fade away, to kick the bucket, to move on to a higher plane, to die, etc.

Semantic Field for Linguistics

Alongside the adjectives semantic, lexical, or notional, the word field has been used to give more precise contours to the idea (of Saussure, the founder of linguistics ) that, in explaining any linguistic sign, speakers of the language embark on various types of associations. Saussure illustrated this idea through a representation in which, from the sign teaching, several lines branch out, in which other signs are situated, evoked because "the sound is similar," because "the root of the words is the same," "because the notions evoked are similar"—or by different criteria.

When we talk about semantic fields, we think of one of these lines, the one in which closely related concepts are represented, such as teaching, learning , and education.

It is understood that these concepts share a broader area of ​​knowledge (sometimes called a notional field), juxtaposing each other like a mosaic. A lexical field, on the other hand, is understood to be a list of words that, together, account for a certain type of experience or activity. For example, the names of musical instruments, the ranks of the military hierarchy, and a housewife's shopping list are lexical fields.