Full Idea
The useful ways in which ordinary people talk about meanings boil down to two: the having of meanings, which is significance, and sameness of meaning, or synonymy.
Gist of Idea
The word 'meaning' is only useful when talking about significance or about synonymy
Source
Willard Quine (On What There Is [1948], p.11)
Book Reference
Quine,Willard: 'From a Logical Point of View' [Harper and Row 1963], p.11
A Reaction
If the Fregean criterion for precise existence is participation in an identity relation, then synonymy does indeed pinpoint what we mean by 'meaning.