Semantic / lexical field or set
This term refers to a relationship that exists between some of the words or phrases used in a text. This might be because the words have all been chosen from a similar area of knowledge or interest, e.g. the lexical field/set of agriculture includes: farm, farming, tractor, meadow, crop, etc. Semantic or lexical fields can be important in the use of metaphor. A metaphor is a figurative use of language in which a thing from one semantic field is described in terms of a different semantic field. For example, in the following description of a football match, the semantic/lexical field of war is used to create particular rhetorical effects: ‘The home side gunned down the opposing side with consummate ease’.
