What is semantic bleaching?

• A. The loss of entire word meaning, replaced by synonyms
• B. A word moving from concrete to abstract meaning
• C. The loss of specific meaning, used as a general marker or intensifier
• D. Borrowing a word from another language

Answer: (C)

Semantic bleaching is a process in which a word loses much of its original, specific meaning and comes to function mainly as a general marker or intensifier in discourse. The word still exists in the sentence, but its content is weakened, leaving it to add emphasis or signal stance rather than convey a precise sense. For example, awesome used to describe something that inspires awe; now it often just means something is very good, without implying true awe. Similarly, really has shifted from meaning truth or reality to a broad intensifier. Words like nice also show bleaching, moving from a precise positive quality to a mild, general positive meaning. This change often goes hand in hand with grammaticalization, where lexical items become discourse markers or function words rather than carrying standalone content.