Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

semaphore

[sem-uh-fawr, -fohr] / ˈsɛm əˌfɔr, -ˌfoʊr /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

She taught semaphore - a visual signaling method allowing information to be conveyed at a distance - to troops ahead of D-Day and helped to test the Mulberry Harbours used in the invasion.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2024

That meant learning semaphore to send messages during the day and Morse code for nighttime communications.

From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2024

On the left shoulder, front, a cluster of schematic semaphore signals evokes his years in the Marines.

From New York Times ● May 5, 2023

You’ve probably seen the semaphore system where years ago people in uniform waved handheld flags to convey messages.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2022

She was wearing a jaunty shirtwaist, white with small red and blue semaphore flags.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Today, to help relative newcomers navigate potential April Fool’s foibles, our crack “Now & Then” team shares some quirky codes and stubborn semaphores from “Then” days that persist in the “Now.”

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 30, 2023

“It looked like he was doing semaphores and flagging down airplanes,” O’Donnell said.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 16, 2019

It undermines the piety and ethical lapses in nonfiction mystery shows, while sharing with “Three Billboards” a belief in semaphores and that people aren’t any one thing.

From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2018

Witness the fact that mayoral candidates Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan both sport similarly silver quiffs and it’s clear that grey hair no longer semaphores drabness within the political realm.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 4, 2016

Enrique's Journey Then he sees switches and semaphores.

From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario

The start of today’s race has been semaphored and a group of six riders have attacked off the front of the bunch.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 11, 2019

With these ones ripped up and destroyed, and made into something else entirely, they perhaps semaphored a new era.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 9, 2014

Elsewhere in the opening episode nothing happened that wasn't first semaphored in the previous scene.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 27, 2011

As her advisers and courtiers semaphored behind her to wave off the truth, antiroyalist Hytner smiled sweetly and said, "It's hereditary."

From Time Magazine Archive

Standing erect in the full glare of the searchlight, and apart from his companions, a petty officer semaphored the desired information.

From With Beatty off Jutland A Romance of the Great Sea Fight by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

Though we’re trying to connect, it feels like I’m standing on one side of a rushing river and she’s on the other, semaphoring her thoughts across at me.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 12, 2017

Even taskmaster Guardiola was spied clapping on the touchline at one point instead of being his usual manic semaphoring self.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 5, 2016

Apple employees may not talk much, but they’ve been semaphoring pretty furiously lately.

From Forbes ● Jul. 8, 2011

In Newmarket, England, a racehorse auctioneer found himself unable to keep up with the spirited semaphoring of the bidders, finally suspended the auction, then learned that his patrons were swatting at a swarm of gnats.

From Time Magazine Archive

I half expected to see the few remaining insects circling him and semaphoring their romantic intentions.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly


Vocabulary lists containing semaphore

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember new words for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com