Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

denotative

American  
[dee-noh-tey-tiv, dih-noh-tuh-tiv] / ˈdi noʊˌteɪ tɪv, dɪˈnoʊ tə tɪv /

adjective

  1. having power to denote.

  2. denoting or tending to denote.

    the denotative meaning of a word.


denotative British  
/ dɪˈnəʊtətɪv /

adjective

  1. able to denote; designative

  2. explicit; overt

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • denotatively adverb
  • denotativeness noun
  • nondenotative adjective
  • nondenotatively adverb
  • undenotative adjective
  • undenotatively adverb

Etymology

Origin of denotative

1605–15; < Latin dēnotātus (past participle of dēnotāre to mark out, denote ( def. ) ) + -ive

Vocabulary lists containing denotative

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The denotative meanings of these abbreviations vary over a wide range.

From The Guardian • Jun. 6, 2013

It finds that "reality" is a denotative term, a word used to designate indifferently everything that happens.

From Creative Intelligence Essays in the Pragmatic Attitude by Bode, Boyd H.

From this eternal word, which is of the nature of the sphota and possesses denotative power, there is produced the object denoted, i.e. this world which consists of actions, agents, and results of action.

From The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracarya Sacred Books of the East, Volume 1 by Thibaut, George

Besides their use in illustrating the denotative force of propositions, these circles may be employed to verify the results of Obversion, Conversion, and the secondary modes of Immediate Inference.

From Logic Deductive and Inductive by Read, Carveth

To use the phraseology of Harvard and Radcliffe, the Sulphite is connotative, the Bromide denotative.

From Are You a Bromide? The Sulphitic Theory Expounded and Exemplified According to the Most Recent Researches into the Psychology of Boredom Including Many Well-Known Bromidioms Now in Use by Burgess, Gelett