This volume is a compilation of nine articles, translated from German. They deal with those lexicographic texts or text excerpts which have been formulated in order to convey the meaning of a lexical unit to a potential dictionary user who is not familiar with that meaning. The articles not only critically analyze lexicographic practice, in particular the so-called lexicographic definitions and the items giving the synonyms in correlation with the examples, in the light of different semantic approaches. They also present ways towards a common understanding in the context of lexicographically imparting knowledge of meaning, i.e. on the basis of an actional-semantics approach which takes into account results obtained from analyses of everyday dialogs about word meanings. Moreover, they discuss how meaning-conveying texts can serve their purposes in dictionary look-up situations, and they lay out all those aspects which are particularly to be taken into consideration in the formulation of lexicographic texts aimed at conveying meaning, in dictionaries belonging to different types.

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Contents: Preface. - Werner Wolski, Introduction. - Herbert Ernst Wiegand, Synonymy and its Role in Monolingual Lexicography. - Thinking about Dictionaries: Current Problems. - Languages for Special Purposes in the Monolingual Dictionary: Criticism, Provocations, and Practical and Pragmatic-oriented Suggestions. - On the Meaning Explanation of Sentence Adverbs in Monolingual Dictionaries: A Contribution to Practical Lexicology. - Synonyms Appearing in Major Alphabetical Dictionaries of Contemporary German. - A New Theory of the So-called Lexicographic Definition. - Elements of a Theory towards a So-called Lexicographic Definition. - Are Most of the Cumulative Dictionaries of Synonyms really Useless Bestsellers? - On the Distinction between Semantic and Encyclopaedic Data in Domain-specific Dictionaries. - Epilogue.