A notion in semantics traditionally defined as having two components: 1. reference, anything in the referential realm denoted by a word or expression, and 2. sense, the system of paradigmatic and syntagmatic relationships between a lexical unit and other lexical units in a language. ‘Syntagmatic’ refers to relationships between linguistic units in a construction or a sequence. An example is between the n and adjacent sounds in not, ant and ton.
See From-meaning mapping, Pragmatics, Semantics