Semantic networks are often closely associated with detailed analysis of texts and networks of ideas. One of the important ways they are distinguished from hypertext systems is their support of semantic typing of links.

For example, the relationship between "murder" and "death" might be described as "is a cause of". The inverse relationship might be expressed as "is caused by". This relationship is represented in the diagram below. It is a technique for representing knowledge. As with other networks, they consists of nodes with links between them.

The nodes in a semantic network represent concepts. A concept is an abstract class, or set, whose members are things that are grouped together because they share common features or properties. The "things" are called instances of the concept.