Connotation

//ˌkɒnəˈteɪʃən// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A meaning of a word or phrase that is suggested or implied, as opposed to a denotation, or literal meaning. A characteristic of words or phrases, or of the contexts that words and phrases are used in.

    "The word "advisedly" has a connotation of "wisely", although it denotes merely "intentionally" and "deliberately.""

  2. 2
    an idea that is implied or suggested wordnet
  3. 3
    The attribute or aggregate of attributes connoted by a term, contrasted with denotation.

    "The two expressions "the morning star" and "the evening star" have different connotations but the same denotation (i.e. the planet Venus)."

  4. 4
    what you must know in order to determine the reference of an expression wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
intensionaffective meaningallegoryallusionarcane meaningassociate

Example

More examples

"In the first paragraph, she describes the labels she was tagged with, which have a negative connotation."

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin connotātiō, from connotō (“I mark in addition”), from Latin con- (“together, with”) + noto (“I note”); equivalent to connote + -ation.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.