denotes

Denotes is the present tense form of the verb denote. It means to designate or refer to something, to serve as a sign or name for a person, object, concept, or set. In discussions of language and meaning, denotation is contrasted with connotation: denotation refers to the actual thing or class of things a term refers to, while connotation concerns associated ideas, qualities, or evaluative overtones.

Denotation in semantics and philosophy of language concerns the relationship between expressions and their referents within a given domain. For a proper name such as Paris, the denotation is the city of Paris; for a common noun such as dog, the denotation is the set of all dogs. Denotation can be context-dependent and may vary with the model or world under consideration.

In logic and mathematics, denotation describes what a symbol stands for within an interpretation. A constant symbol denotes a specific element of the domain; a predicate denotes a relation among elements; an interpretation function assigns denotations to terms. In computer science, identifiers denote values, objects, or locations according to the program’s state.

Examples illustrate usage across fields. In mathematics, the symbol ∑ denotes summation; in chemistry, the term water denotes the compound with chemical formula H2O. In everyday language, a sign such as a red flag denotes danger, signaling a particular condition or instruction. Denotation thus captures the objective reference a term or symbol has within a given context.