denotation

Plural: denotations

Noun

• the act of indicating or pointing out by name
• the most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression; the class of objects that an expression refers to
• The act of denoting, or something (such as a symbol) that denotes
• The primary, surface, literal, or explicit meaning of a signifier such as a word, phrase, or symbol; that which a word denotes, as contrasted with its connotation; the aggregate or set of objects of which a word may be predicated.
• The intension and extension of a word
• Something signified or referred to; a particular meaning of a symbol
• Any mathematical object which describes the meanings of expressions from the languages, formalized in the theory of denotational semantics
• A first level of analysis: what the audience can visually see on a page. Denotation often refers to something literal, and avoids being a metaphor.

Examples

• The denotations of the two expressions "the morning star" and "the evening star" are the same (i.e. both expressions denote the planet Venus), but their connotations are different.

Synonyms

extension, indication, reference

Related Words

connotation