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denotation

US/ˌdiː.noʊˈteɪ.ʃən/
nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — denote sits at #14,134Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: denotations

Denotation is the plain literal meaning of a word. Distinguish denotation from connotation.

The denotation of home and house is nearly the same and everything else about them is not. Denotation is what a dictionary can record, and the rest has to be learned by living.

Definitions of denotation

  1. 1noundenotationThe plain literal meaning of a word.C2

    “The denotation was identical and the effect was the opposite.”

denotation is a meaning.

Where it comes from

Latin denotatio, from denotare, to mark out, from notare, to mark.

  1. Latin

    dēnotātiō

  2. English, today

    denotation

Built from

  • dē- · Latin — completely
  • noto · Latin — to mark

From Latin dēnotātiō, from Latin denoto (“to denote, mark out”) + -tiō, from dē- (“completely”) + noto (“to mark”); equivalent to denote + -ation.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

denotation in the wild

  • In philosophy and linguistics, the denotation of a word or expression is its strictly literal meaning.

    Denotation

  • For instance, the word "warm" may evoke calmness, coziness, or kindness (as in the warmth of someone's personality) but these associations are not part of the word's denotation.

    Denotation

  • Improper descriptions raise some difficult questions about the law of excluded middle, denotation, modality, and mental content.

    Definite description

  • In semiotics, denotation is the surface or the literal meaning, the definition most likely to appear in a dictionary.

    Denotation (semiotics)

  • However, the denotation has changed since its 18th century coinage to comprehend the entire political spectrum, though retaining the connotation of "change at the root".

    Radical politics

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the noto family

connotationconnote

denotation — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others

  • denote