connotes

Connotation is the set of associations implied by a word beyond its literal meaning (denotation). While denotation refers to the explicit referent of a term, connotation encompasses the feelings, values, and cultural meanings that a word evokes in a given audience.

Connotations are shaped by culture, history, personal experience, and context. They can be positive, negative, or neutral, and they vary across communities and over time. Words with strong evaluative loading are often described as loaded or emotionally charged.

In rhetoric, literature, and everyday speech, connotation is used to influence interpretation. It can color judgments, persuade, or create mood. For example, home connotes warmth and belonging, whereas house is more neutral. Similarly, frugal can imply prudence, while cheap often implies low quality or stinginess.

Connotation interacts with denotation, context, and intention. Analysts study connotative meaning through discourse analysis, surveys, and corpus studies, noting how audiences interpret terms in different settings. Connotations shift over time as associations change.

Etymology: the term derives from Latin connotare, from con- “together” and notare “to mark.”