Which example demonstrates semantic bleaching?

• A. Broadening "holiday" from religious festival to vacation
• B. The use of "literally" as an intensifier
• C. "Meat" narrowing
• D. "Mouse" to computer mouse

Answer: (B)

Semantic bleaching happens when a word loses part of its original meaning and becomes more of a grammatical or pragmatic tool than a content-bearing term. Using literally as an intensifier is a classic example: originally it meant “in a literal sense,” but in everyday speech it’s used to add emphasis regardless of whether something is literally true. The word has shed much of its precise sense and now functions mainly to intensify, not to convey literal information. That shift captures the essence of bleaching.

The other changes involve different processes: broadening expands a word’s domain without losing its core content, narrowing tightens its scope, and a metaphorical or functional extension like mouse for computer mouse adds a new referent through metaphor but keeps a clear link to the original meaning. Therefore, the use of literally as an intensifier best demonstrates semantic bleaching.