The phrase "dictionary meaning" is correct and commonly used in written English.
It refers to the specific definition of a word as found in a dictionary. Example: "The dictionary meaning of the word 'love' is a strong feeling of affection and attachment towards someone or something."
In the Netherlands, where 9.5 million people (more than half the population) actively use it, "Whatsappen" is now a verb in the Dutch dictionary, meaning to send a WhatsApp message.
Most nonprofessionals have a pretty good sense of what narcissism means, but the formal definition is more precise than the dictionary meaning of the term.
In Britain, "democracy", like other noble concepts (such as "reform") has been emptied of its dictionary meaning.
This argument is likely to seem counterintuitive because it is usually assumed that the dictionary meaning of words directs us to intention rather than the other way around.
So, for instance, Maddox's uncle starts off being 'macaronic' - whose dictionary meaning is, of verse, 'written in more than one language'.
He stripped the prose poem of its anecdotal, narrative, and descriptive content and used words for their evocative and associative power, divesting them of their logical or dictionary meaning.
In a poem there are (1) the sounds, (2) the dictionary meanings of the words, and (3) the connotations of the words the manifold associations that they evoke (sensory, intellectual, and emotional) in the minds of readers.
Having detached the words of the statute from the intentions of its drafters, they were free to range through the possible dictionary meanings of "use a firearm" and choose one that pleased them.
The finding of like dictionary meanings is usually a simple matter, and when there is a word that has no rough equivalent in the other language, it may be simply retained in the original language (for example, the German word Weltanschauung, meaning something like "world outlook," is often retained in English translations of German works).
One of his most important discoveries was that the N.S.A. had crafted a body of classified legal findings to justify broader surveillance, often by interpreting words in real laws — like "target," "incidental," "relevant," "minimize," and even "terrorist" — in ways that were far from their dictionary meanings and at times, frankly, absurd.
The Clause's first sentence must instead be read as a grant of authority to the Senate to determine whether an individual should be acquitted or convicted, and the common sense and dictionary meanings of the word "sole" indicate that this authority is reposed in the Senate alone.
