commodity, goods, trade goods - articles of commerce

alien, foreigner, noncitizen, outlander - a person who comes from a foreign country; someone who does not owe allegiance to your country

subject matter, content, message, substance - what a communication that is about something is about

lexical meaning - the meaning of a word that depends on the nonlinguistic concepts it is used to express

grammatical meaning - the meaning of a word that depends on its role in a sentence; varies with inflectional form

symbolisation, symbolization - the use of symbols to convey meaning

signified, sense - the meaning of a word or expression; the way in which a word or expression or situation can be interpreted; "the dictionary gave several senses for the word"; "in the best sense charity is really a duty"; "the signifier is linked to the signified"

connotation, intension - what you must know in order to determine the reference of an expression

referent - something referred to; the object of a reference

gist, burden, essence, effect, core - the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work

purport, intent, spirit - the intended meaning of a communication

moral, lesson - the significance of a story or event; "the moral of the story is to love thy neighbor"

nuance, subtlety, nicety, refinement, shade - a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude; "without understanding the finer nuances you can't enjoy the humor"; "don't argue about shades of meaning"

overtone - (usually plural) an ulterior implicit meaning or quality; "overtones of despair"

point - a brief version of the essential meaning of something; "get to the point"; "he missed the point of the joke"; "life has lost its point"

meaning, substance - the idea that is intended; "What is the meaning of this proverb?"

matter - (used with negation) having consequence; "they were friends and it was no matter who won the games"

significance - the quality of being significant; "do not underestimate the significance of nuclear power"

hell to pay - dire consequences; "when the pig ran away there was hell to pay"

commerce, commercialism, mercantilism - transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services)

merchandise, trade - engage in the trade of; "he is merchandising telephone sets"

smuggle - import or export without paying customs duties; "She smuggled cigarettes across the border"

mean, intend - mean or intend to express or convey; "You never understand what I mean!"; "what do his words intend?"