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

Whenever someone got into trouble, Barron would unfurl her semaphore flags and signal for help.

From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2024

And do we need so much semaphore to understand our relationships?

From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2024

A German market car, it retains the semaphore turn signals that pop up from the B-pillar to indicate a change of direction.

From New York Times ● Oct. 7, 2021

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

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

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

But he can slay without words: His eyebrows are semaphores, his left hand a weapon that can dismiss a subject with a quiver.

From Washington Post ● May 24, 2016

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

The kids on Bandstand mimicked its manual semaphores and danced to its perky rhythm, eerily similar to Bo Diddley’s signature chugging backbeat.

From Time ● Jan. 19, 2012

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

Then, languidly raising his hairy legs and wagging them like flags, the old hand semaphored a request for jam to a pal in the port mizzen.

From Time Magazine Archive

John immediately semaphored with his arms, asking Ferrier to bring out all the men except a few left to guard the village, and to join him on the hill-top.

From Settlers and Scouts by Herbert Strang

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

The further we get from past events the more they seem to be wildly semaphoring messages to us about our news agenda.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 13, 2013

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