connotative
Beyond literal meaning
Connotative describes meanings or associations that extend beyond a word's literal definition.
While a word's denotative meaning is what it directly refers to, its connotative meaning includes the emotional coloring, cultural baggage, and implied judgments it carries.
The words "thrifty" and "cheap" have similar denotations but very different connotative force.
A connotative reading of a text pays attention to these suggestive, implied meanings rather than just the surface content.
Indirect suggestion or consequence
- nuanceSlight shade of difference
- undertoneSubdued background quality
- subtextImplicit meaning beneath words
- overtoneSubsidiary meaning or harmonic
insinuation · allusion · suggestion · inference · resonance · coloring · flavor · shade
Tending to summon memories
- poignantEvoking keen emotion
- sentimentalExcessively emotional about memories
- nostalgicLonging for the past
- melancholicInclined toward reflective sorrow
foreboding · loaded · charged · emotive · affective · resonant · stirring · moving
Symbolic rather than literal
- symbolicRepresenting through signs
- allegoricalExpressing meaning through symbols
- representationalDepicting recognizable subjects
- emblematicServing as a symbol
evocative · imagistic · poetic · literary · rhetorical · signifying · expressive · allusive
implication
Indirect suggestion or consequence
- nuanceSlight shade of difference
- undertoneSubdued background quality
- subtextImplicit meaning beneath words
overtone · insinuation · allusion · suggestion · inference · resonance · coloring · flavor · shade · tinge
evocative
Tending to summon memories
- poignantEvoking keen emotion
- sentimentalExcessively emotional about memories
- nostalgicLonging for the past
melancholic · foreboding · loaded · charged · emotive · affective · resonant · stirring · moving · provocative
metaphorical
Symbolic rather than literal
- symbolicRepresenting through signs
- allegoricalExpressing meaning through symbols
- representationalDepicting recognizable subjects
emblematic · evocative · imagistic · poetic · literary · rhetorical · signifying · expressive · allusive · associative
suggestive
Hinting at impropriety
indirect · oblique · veiled · hinted · inferred · understated · subtle · unwritten · unstated · elliptical
connotativedenotative
Pertaining to explicit meaning
literal · referential · designative · extensional · definitional
connotativeliteral
Meaning exactly what's said
explicit · plain · straightforward · denotative · objective