A macrosememe consists of a class of semantically related macrosemes which constitute a meaningful component of a structure having two or more sememes and at least one episememe. [...] Macrosememes are of two types: (1) 'linguimacrosememes', based upon the linguistic context and (2) 'ethnomacrosememes', based upon the nonlinguistic context.
- Nida (1951), a pag.13

The meaning of a particular structure, e.g. 'applesauce', consists of all the macrosememes which such a form possesses. These include (1) an endocentric linguimacrosememe (the form 'applesauce' has substantially the same distribution as the noun head-word 'sauce'), (2) an endocentric ethnomacrosememe, (as a designation of a kind of food, 'applesauce' means a 'sauce' made of 'apples'), and (3) an exocentric ethnomacrosememe, (as an exclamation of disbelief or disgust, the meaning of the combination is not to be described in terms of the components 'apple' and 'sauce'). These macrosememes also imply the recognition of the sememes of the components 'apple' and 'sauce' and the episememe which defines the relationship between them, namely, that 'apple' qualifies 'sauce'.
- Nida (1951), a pag.14