I take it from huge responses this is not a very meaningful question to ask. :-) What would make it meaningful?

Matthew, it might help to frame your query in regard to what you are exploring. Asking a linguist what meaning is (for morphemes, words, sentences, etc.) can bring several chapters in response. Philosophers of language will add some features to that, including a step toward semantics in mathematics. Mathematicians may add to that discussion. That covers #1.

#2-"What did you mean by that?" Well, now you are into linguistic pragmatics, psychology, sociology, communication theory, etc. where #1 is considered as an intended message and its relationship to a received or interpreted message in some audience.

#3-This fringes on science and may be addressed in philosophy or sociology or or communication theory or most any form of less than academic study, including numerology, astrology, and who knows what else.

In other words, you may be having trouble getting responses because your question is only one step away from "What is the meaning of life," which requires all the sciences and spiritual studies of all time.

If you have some goal less grandiose than all this, then laying that out might help someone respond.

Glenn, I don't think I could have articulated the problem I am exploring any better than what you just wrote. I believe there are two solutions to this problem : a) we start restricting the way in which "meaning" is used, and by that I mean we start calling "meaning" in each of the dimensions you identified via distinct terms , or b) we find the unitary atom/kernel of sameness in each dimension and THAT becomes our definition of meaning. Unfortunately no matter which way we go about it that leaves us still with the problem of answering the question "what is meaning"? I feel like surely there has got to be someone who feels the same way and has thought of a solution, so I'm curious as to what people might think or guess.

Matthew, it's also a question that is very relevant to many other domains than the three forms you have listed.

There's a lot of literature on "meaning -centred education" that aligns with constructivist theory that gives emphasis to the importance of the individual (socially) constructing their own knowledge rather than being only a receiver of instruction. So it is very important to understand what "meaning" is from an educational perspective.

In the worlds of Informatics, digital libraries, & next generation web infrastructure there's a preoccupation with semantics - in other words, formally defined "meaning" of terms, definitions, and propositions etc. The semanitc web is built upon the idea of machine-executable semantics

in answering your question in another way I pose another question: what is the difference between sense-making and meaning-making? Why this question? Because in some ways I think that making sense from things is an activity that often precedes meaning-making

Meaning can be discerned from symbols, texts, stories, movies, animations, etc -- all kinds of things. In the case of an exit sign -- most people will recognise what it means; in the case of a complex story - then any meaning is often ascribed by the reader or viewer & subject to interpretation.

Stay with your original question until you're satisfied!

You are hitting the nail on the head. Thank you for your response. I guess what I'm trying to express is that I believe it is possible to arrive at a single definition of the term meaning if only we look at it from an ecological or systems perspective. I see a consistency, a pattern if you will, in each use of the word "meaning" except that it exists in different spheres, or ecologies, and thus "means" something else while still retaining its atomic, or phenomenologically speaking - essential, structure. I believe, as you obviously do, that sense-making needs to be included in this analysis.

My problem is that once I start narrowing down on the atomic, kernel, or essence of meaning I have to use an equally ambiguous and open concept called "life" or "existence" or "domination" or ... or... or... to explicate this structure. It is one small rabbit hole that explodes into infinite number of paths with each "clearing" having its own set of worm holes to encounter.

Is there someone that has mapped out the different ways in which the term "meaning" has been used, from an ecological or systems perspective?