While semantics is the study of meaning in language, there is more interest in certain
aspects of meaning than in others. We have already ruled out special meanings that one
individual might attach to words. We can go further and make a broad distinction
between conceptual meaning and associative meaning. Conceptual meaning covers
those basic, essential components of meaning that are conveyed by the literal use of a
word. It is the type of meaning that dictionaries are designed to describe. Some of the
basic components of a word like needle in English might include “thin, sharp, steel
instrument.” These components would be part of the conceptual meaning of needle.