denote

denote 1 signify, *mean, import

Analogous words: betoken, bespeak, *indicate, attest, argue, prove: *intend, mean: *suggest, imply, hint, intimate, insinuate

2 Denote, connote and their corresponding nouns denotation, connotation are complementary rather than synonymous. Taken together, the verbs as used in reference to terms equal mean (see MEAN vb 2).

Taken singly, a term denotes or has as its denotation whatever is expressed in its definition: in a noun the thing or the definable class of things or ideas which it names, in a verb the act or state which is affirmed.

A term connotes or has as its connotation the ideas or emotions that are added to it and cling to it, often as a result of experience but sometimes as a result of something extraneous (as a poet's effective use of the term, or its constant association with another term or idea, or a connection between it and some historical event); thus, "home" denotes the place where one lives with one's family, but it connotes comforts, intimacy, and privacy. What a term denotes (or the denotation of a term) can be definitely fixed; what a term connotes (or its connotation)often depends upon the experience or background of the person using it

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I have used the term "post-war poets" to denote those who did not begin to write verse till after the war— Day Lewis

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there is no word that has more sinister and terrible connotations in our snobbish society than the word promiscuity— Shaw

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In logic denote and connote, though still complementary and still predicated of terms, carry very different implications. They are dependent on two highly technical terms, both collective nouns, denotation and connotation.

A term denotes (or bears as denotation) the entire number of things or instances covered by it; thus, "plant" denotes the aggregate of all things that come under the definition of that word; the denotation of "plant" is far more inclusive than the denotation of "shrub."

A term connotes (or bears as connotation[/c) the sum total of the qualities or characteristics that are implied by it and are necessarily or commonly associated with it; thus, "plant" connotes (or bears as connotation) life, growth and decay, lack of power of locomotion, and, commonly, roots and cellular structure invested with a cellulose wall.