Other forms: connotes, connoting, connoted
To connote is to suggest a feeling beyond the plain meaning. The word connotes wealth, connote something sinister, connotes approval.
It is the pair of denote, which is what a word actually points at, while what it connotes is the baggage it carries. Two words can denote the same thing and connote opposite things, which is where most arguments about language start.
1verbconnoteTo suggest a feeling beyond the plain meaning.
“Thrifty and stingy denote the same habit but connote opposite judgements.”
connote is a suggesting.
Medieval Latin connotare means to mark along with, from com plus notare, to mark.
Medieval Latin
connotō — signify beyond literal meaning
English, today
connote
Built from
From Medieval Latin connotō (“signify beyond literal meaning”), from com- (“together”), + notō (“mark”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA