Dictionary Definition
connote
Verb
1 express or state indirectly [syn: imply]
2 involve as a necessary condition of
consequence; as in logic; "solving the problem is predicated on
understanding it well" [syn: predicate]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
connoto#Latin, from com-#Latin, + noto#LatinVerb
- To signify beyond
its literal or principal meaning.
- Racism often connotes an underlying fear or ignorance.
- To possess an inseparable related
condition; to imply as a
logical consequence.
- Poverty connotes hunger.
- To express without overt reference; to imply
- To require as a logical predicate to consequence
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
to signify beyond principal meaning
- Bosnian: sugerisati
- Croatian: konotirati
- French: connoter, désigner, indiquer, impliquer
- German: konnotieren, bedeuten
- Italian: connotare
- Polish: sugerować
- Romanian: sugera, implica
- Serbian: sugerisati
- Slovene: konotirati
- Spanish: connotar
to imply, to suggest
- Bosnian: implicirati
- Croatian: konotirati, implicirati
- French: connoter, impliquer
- German: konnotieren, suggerieren, bedeuten
- Hungarian: utal
- Polish: konotować, przywoływaćprzywodzić na myśl,
- Romanian: implica
- Romansch: proponer
- Serbian: implicirati
- Slovene: namigovati, sugerirati
- Swedish: innebära
See also
French
Verb
- Form of First-person singular present subjunctive, connoter
- Form of Third-person singular present subjunctive, connoter
- Form of Second-person singular imperative, connoter
Extensive Definition
- This word has distinct meanings in other fields: see connotation (semiotics) and connotation and denotation. For the opposite of Connotation see Denotation.
Connotation is a subjective
cultural and/or
emotional coloration in addition to the explicit or denotative meaning of any
specific word or phrase in a language, i.e. emotional
association with a word.
Usage
Within contemporary society, connotation branches
into a mixture of different meanings. These could include the
contrast of a word or phrase with its primary, literal meaning (known as a
denotation), with
what that word or phrase specifically denotes. The connotation
essentially relates to how anything may be associated with a word
or phrase, for example, an implied value judgment or
feelings.
- A stubborn person may be described as being either strong-willed or pig-headed. Although these have the same literal meaning (i.e. stubborn), strong-willed connotes admiration for the level of someone's will, while pig-headed connotes frustration in dealing with someone. Likewise, used car and previously owned car have the same literal meaning, but many dealerships prefer the latter, since it is thought to have fewer negative connotations.
- It is often useful to avoid words with strong connotations (especially disparaging ones) when striving to achieve a neutral point of view. A desire for more positive connotations, or fewer negative ones, is one of the main reasons for using euphemisms.
Logic
In logic
and in some branches of semantics, connotation is more
or less synonymous with intension. Connotation is
often contrasted with denotation, which is more or
less synonymous with extension.
Alternatively, the connotation of the word may be thought of as the
set of all its possible referents (as opposed to merely the actual
ones). A word's denotation is the collection of things it refers
to; its connotation is what it implied about the things it is used
to refer to. The denotation of dog is (something like) four-legged
canine carnivore. So saying "you are a dog" would imply that you
were ugly or aggressive rather than stating that you were
canine.
Notes
See also
External links
connote in Danish: Konnotation
connote in German: Konnotation
connote in Estonian: Konnotatsioon
connote in Hebrew: קונוטציה
connote in Dutch: Connotatie
connote in Polish: Konotacja
connote in Finnish: Konnotaatio
connote in Swedish: Konnotation
connote in Ukrainian: Коннотація
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
add up to, allegorize, allude to,
approve, argue, assume, attest, be construed as, be
indicative of, be significant of, be symptomatic of, bespeak, betoken, breathe, bring to mind, characterize, demonstrate, denominate, denote, differentiate, disclose, display, entail, evidence, evince, exhibit, express, furnish evidence, give
evidence, give indication of, give token, go to show, highlight, hint, identify, illustrate, implicate, imply, import, indicate, infer, insinuate, intend, intimate, involve, manifest, mark, mean, mean to say, note, point indirectly to, point
to, presume, presuppose, refer to,
reveal, set forth,
show, show signs of,
signalize, signify, speak for itself, speak
volumes, spell, stand for,
suggest, suppose, symbolize, symptomatize, symptomize, take for granted,
tell, tend to show,
testify