 An allowance in definite descriptions which lets them refer additionally to roles would explain their different behavior in modal sentences without threatening the idea that a name could be synonymous with a definite description on its non-role reading. Still, the foregoing reflections offer no further help in interpreting the claim that “Socrates” means the teacher of Plato and Xenophon. The claim can’t simply be that “Socrates” and “the teacher of Plato and Xenophon” corefer. Even one who denies a meaning to “Socrates” admits this. But if there are no detectable modal consequences of a name’s having some meaning, in what other substantial sense should this possession be understood?