How to Use signifier in a Sentence

signifier

noun
  • In an era when no one had to wait, choosing to do so was a signifier.
    — Sadie Stein, Town & Country, 17 Feb. 2021
  • But clearly, the name here is meant to be a trans signifier, right?
    — Mathew Rodriguez, Them, 6 Mar. 2025
  • Any masks or signifiers, like jewelry or clothes, should be left at the door.
    — Frankie Adkins, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 July 2023
  • These urban signifiers reflect his own need for change.
    — Literary Hub, 23 Apr. 2026
  • Yet rock as a cluster of signifiers retains its power around the world.
    — Dan Brooks, New York Times, 12 Sep. 2023
  • This is how people become signifiers for larger ideas and events.
    — Ty Burr, BostonGlobe.com, 26 June 2019
  • In terms of country signifiers, the Strays had plenty of those, too.
    — Piet Levy, jsonline.com, 3 Aug. 2025
  • The derms are both quick to remind that our skin can be a signifier of our internal health.
    — Lindy Segal, Harper's BAZAAR, 10 July 2023
  • It has been used to dehumanize and now it's sold as a signifier of cool.
    — Stereo Williams, Billboard, 24 May 2018
  • The smile, as a signifier of maniacal fear, goes back a long way.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 27 Sep. 2022
  • Most called this past week's election outcomes a signifier of things to come during midterms.
    — Averi Harper, ABC News, 7 Nov. 2021
  • The label is not used as a signifier at all, but as a tool of arbitrary power.
    — Mario Loyola, National Review, 29 July 2021
  • But only a handful of these videos are using these era signifiers to say anything about the music.
    — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 21 Mar. 2025
  • This is a novel of manners, where the signifiers of class and aesthetics take on enormous weight.
    — Constance Grady, Vox, 20 July 2024
  • These images of destruction are also signifiers of a new start on the horizon.
    — Hadley Mendelsohn, House Beautiful, 22 Mar. 2019
  • The cries were a universal signifier, one that hit home for mothers across the racial spectrum.
    — Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2021
  • The flavour is the main signifier of the changing seasons, even more so than the browning leaves falling from the trees.
    — Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 24 Oct. 2022
  • Shout-out to fake beards, one of the best signifiers of comedy since the ancient-Greek gag phallus.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 8 Aug. 2025
  • Everyone loves Swift, so the old signifiers of fandom just don’t cut it anymore.
    — Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 26 Aug. 2023
  • The warm-up act for the Golden Globes gave some signifiers of what to expect on the fashion front.
    — Alice Newbold, Vogue, 5 Jan. 2024
  • These can be a decent signifier of how much warmth the boot will provide, but these are not standardized and vary from brand to brand.
    — Meg Carney, Field & Stream, 4 Jan. 2024
  • The hearts and minds of a generation have been won over and molded by other means in the absence of these signifiers.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2024
  • The shirt is a preppy staple, a streetwear signifier, and (sometimes) even a school uniform.
    — Sarah Adams, Town & Country, 18 May 2021
  • That Huo doesn’t overemphasize the signifiers of change is an admirable kind of restraint.
    — Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 17 Feb. 2025
  • The laugh, therefore, was not so much a signifier of amusement as recognition.
    — Lili Anolik, Vanities, 19 June 2017
  • The film is a kind of symphony of clashing chords, opposing signifiers.
    — Kyle Smith, National Review, 10 Aug. 2019
  • The flavor is the main signifier of the changing seasons, even more so than the browning leaves falling from the trees.
    — Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 18 Oct. 2022
  • It is mounted on a wall and well-lit across from a row of suits — a comment on power and how our signifiers of it have changed in fashion over the years.
    — Emilia Petrarca, The Cut, 29 Sep. 2017
  • The blue check is now a shibboleth of who’s in the Cult of Musk, nary a signifier of who has online clout.
    — Scott Nover, Quartz, 21 Apr. 2023
  • Without signifiers to detect a guy's Kinsey Scale rank, we're left to our own devices.
    — Chris Azzopardi, GQ, 14 May 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'signifier.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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