It’s what you find if you look the word up in a dictionary.Ī word’s connotation involves the feelings, emotions, associations, cultural implications, etc. Thesaurus – n.A word’s denotation is the literal meaning of the word. a word that is similar in meaning to another word to cook in an oven using dry heatĪroma – n. a place where books, magazines, and other materials (such as videos and musical recordings) are available for people to use or borrowīaking –v. an area of ground where plants (such as flowers or vegetables) are grown a group or collection of different things or people that are usually similar in some way Write your answers in the comments below!įaith Pirlo wrote this report for VOA Learning English. Can you think of some more synonyms for the word “smell” that have different connotations? Maybe a word that is just as positive as "aroma," or even more negative and more intense than “odor?” Can you think of any cultural connotations that you know of? Let us end this report with some homework. These associations can also be emotional or cultural. And connotations of words can range from more intense to less intense. Connotations can be positive, neutral, or negative. These can change depending on the sentence.
Connotations are associations that expand the meaning of a word. Today we looked at the connotations of words. You can also read books, magazines, internet stories and social media to compare the use of words in different situations. If a teacher or native speaker tells you not to use a word, ask them about the connotation of the word. It is helpful to not only look up the definition of words within a dictionary, but to look up synonyms of a word in a thesaurus to understand different connotations.įor cultural and emotional connotations, ask people for their feelings about the word or if it has any importance in their culture or country. We often use it to describe the smell of food.Ĭultural connotations are specific to a country, culture, or people.įor example in the United States, apple pie, a favorite sweet food, is associated with being American. The connotation is very positive and strong. Here the words “aroma” and “hot chocolate” create a warm and relaxing feeling even during the cold morning. I woke up to the aroma of hot chocolate on a snowy morning. Words can also carry emotional and cultural connotations. The baseball players’ clothes have a strong odor “Scent” may be slightly stronger than “smell” in this sentence because the smell of the coffee could fill the whole restaurant. The smell of bread baking made me hungry. The restaurant was filled with the scent of coffee. The smell of old books could be positive or negative depending on the person, so it is neutral. The smell of old books helps me to remember my childhood library. If the fish is old, it would not have a very good smell. “Odor” is also a smell, but the connotation can be negative and unpleasant. The smell of the flowers is very pleasant. The scent of the flowers welcomes you to the garden.Ī “scent” is a smell, but the association is positive. Other words that have the same basic meaning of “sensed by the nose” include words like “scent” and “odor.” We can use a line graph to show where words fall within such a range.Ĭonsider the word “smell.” The definition of the word smell is “something sensed by the nose.” A general association of “smell” is neutral, meaning that it could be positive or negative depending on its use in a sentence. Words can fall within a range of negative, neutral, or positive connotations. Negative, neutral and positive connotations Sometimes these associations can even be emotional or cultural. The connotation can tell us if the word is more intense or less intense, if it is positive, pleasing to the speaker, or negative, something that is unpleasant to the speaker. These are called the connotations of a word. Unlike the definitions that we find in our dictionaries, called denotations, there are different meanings associated with a word that give us more information about it.
NEGATIVE CONNOTATION HOW TO
We will learn how to choose the best words based on their definitions and additional meanings, or connotations, when we speak or write. Today on Everyday Grammar, we will explore the meanings of words considering how we think and feel about them.
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