Polysemantic

Having multiple meanings.

This is one of the more obscure words in the English language. This is the adjective form. The noun form, polysemant, is even more obscure.

Examples of polysemantic words include the following

• Liberal
• Neoliberal
• Conservative
• Progressive
• Tolerance
• Homophobic
• Xenophobic
• Pro-life
• Freedom
• Easter egg

It should be noted that the meanings of words are culturally conditioned, and drift over time as usage changes, either from one generation to the next or from one social, cultural or political enclave to another. Ludwig Wittgenstein and Jacques Derrida pioneered the study of such language drift from differing perspectives. Noam Chomsky argued that there is an irreducible biological component to understanding and transmitting the knowledge and understanding of language. It may be, then, that language drift is limited in some important sense.

We might note, in passing, that this phenomenon of drift tends to be accelerated in a highly contentious political culture, such as ours, and may be accounted for by the tendency to fight over meanings. This is, of course, the classic battle so deftly portrayed in George Orwell's dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-four.