use-mention distinction

English

Noun

use-mention distinction (usually uncountable, plural use-mention distinctions)

1. (linguistics, philosophy) The distinction between the use of a word for its meaning (as in "Cheese is derived from milk") and the mention of a word as a lexical unit (as in " 'Cheese' is derived from a word in Old English"); an instance of this distinction.

   Synonym: words-as-words distinction

   • 2014, Thomas D. Sullivan, Russell Pannier -, Modern Challenges to Past Philosophy: Arguments and Responses, →ISBN:

     Thus, they purport to expand the domain of our judgments beyond all bounds of experience through concepts to which no corresponding object at all can be given in experience. For convenience, we ignore use-mention distinctions here and elsewhere.

See also

• autonymy