connotation

[ kon-uh-tey-shuhn ]

noun

1. 1. the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning:

      A possible connotation of “home” is “a place of warmth, comfort, and affection.”

   2. the act of connoting; the suggesting of an additional meaning for a word or expression, apart from its explicit meaning.

   Synonyms: import, implication, undertone

2. something suggested or implied by a word or thing, rather than being explicitly named or described:

   “Religion” has always had a negative connotation for me.

3. Logic. the set of attributes constituting the meaning of a term and thus determining the range of objects to which that term may be applied; comprehension; intension.

connotation

/ ˌkɒnəˈteɪʃən; ˈkɒnəˌteɪtɪv; kəˈnəʊtə- /

noun

1. an association or idea suggested by a word or phrase; implication
2. the act or fact of connoting
3. See intension
   logic another name for intension

connotation

1. The meaning that a word suggests or implies. A connotation includes the emotions or associations that surround a word. For example, the word modern strictly means “belonging to recent times,” but the word's connotations can include such notions as “new, up to date, experimental.”

Derived Forms

• connotative, adjective
• ˈconnoˌtatively, adverb

Other Words From

• con·no·ta·tive [kon, -, uh, -tey-tiv, k, uh, -, noh, -t, uh, -], con·notive adjective
• conno·tative·ly con·notive·ly adverb
• non·conno·tative adjective
• non·conno·tative·ly adverb
• un·conno·tative adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of connotation¹

First recorded 1375–1425, for an earlier sense, 1525–35 for current senses; late Middle English connotacion, from Medieval Latin connotātiōn-, stem of connotātiō “a noting, marking with,” equivalent to connotāt(us) “marked with” (past participle of connotāre “to note in addition to, mark along with”; connote ) + -iō -ion

Example Sentences

The “game manager” label carries a negative connotation, but Smith is one of the NFL’s best at protecting the ball.

From Washington Post

Even the word audit itself has a lot of negative connotations, and that’s understandable.

From MIT Technology Review

The terms diverged when we filtered just for ones with negative connotations.

From Washington Post

Whilst only 7% of queries will be impacted in initial roll-out, further expansion of this new passage indexing system could have much bigger connotations than one might first suspect.

From Search Engine Land

This is not an example of AI taking away jobs and that more negative connotations that you get when you talk about AI and business.

From MIT Technology Review

But that has never struck me as terribly apt or helpful, despite its obviously negative connotation.

From The Daily Beast

In case the connotation is lost, “Theater Kid” is not a good thing here.

From The Daily Beast

“Linda Perry-style,” of course, carries with it a history and a very specific connotation.

From The Daily Beast

Filmmaker Lauren Greenfield examines the negative connotation of the phrase and turns it into an affirmation.

From The Daily Beast

It has this crazy negative connotation that I never understood.

From The Daily Beast

To fix the connotation of a concrete name, or the denotation of the corresponding abstract, is to define the name.

From Project Gutenberg

Why, I should say it means 'skilful, clever,' and it carries with it the connotation of 'novel.'

From Project Gutenberg

They had been diverted from their hereditary connotation to signify impressions for which Nature did not intend them.

From Project Gutenberg

This term one may accept as technically correct without necessarily accepting the sinister connotation imputed to it by labor.

From Project Gutenberg

The specific difference is that which must be added to the connotation of the genus to complete the connotation of the species.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• meaning
• overtone
• significance
• undertone