WRITING LESSON: DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION

A denotation is a word's literal meaning; a connotation is the full range of suggestions and associations that go with it. Dictionaries usually give a word's denotations, but are often less useful in revealing connotations; a good writer, though, will be conscious of the hidden meanings carried by every word. Think, for instance, about the phrases make love, have intercourse, make whoopie, copulate, mate, and a few others I won't mention — they all refer to the same act, but they're not at all interchangeable; when you need to refer to the act, you have to figure out which set of associations will have the desired effect on your audience.