Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Denoting or naming; designative.
  • adjective Specific or direct.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having power to denote.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having power to denote; designating or marking off.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective That denotes or names; designative
  • adjective Specific to the primary meaning of a term

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective in accordance with fact or the primary meaning of a term
  • adjective having the power of explicitly denoting or designating or naming

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • But to call the critical writing of Samuel Johnson or S.T. Coleridge or Henry James "theory" is merely to engage in denotative game playing.

    Literary Study 2009

  • It’s by no means impossible to interpret that in denotative terms, split the portmanteau words back into their roots — “moongrowl” as “mongrel”, “moon” and “growl” — take coinages as new signifiers for new signifieds — “rowl” as a combination of “prowl” and “growl” — and so on.

    Archive 2009-07-01 Hal Duncan 2009

  • It’s by no means impossible to interpret that in denotative terms, split the portmanteau words back into their roots — “moongrowl” as “mongrel”, “moon” and “growl” — take coinages as new signifiers for new signifieds — “rowl” as a combination of “prowl” and “growl” — and so on.

    Notes on Notes Hal Duncan 2009

  • White devotes a considerable section of his reply to straightening me out on what philosophers mean by "denotative" and "connotative," for failure to heed this, he suggests, I should "win… some kind of prize for philosophical incompetence."

    Letting Go White, Morton 1967

  • Deluxe carries, in the narrow context in which it finds its widest everyday usage, a clear and concise denotative sense: “accompanied by a slice of tomato, a leaf of iceberg lettuce, fries, and a pickle.”

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • Deluxe carries, in the narrow context in which it finds its widest everyday usage, a clear and concise denotative sense: “accompanied by a slice of tomato, a leaf of iceberg lettuce, fries, and a pickle.”

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • Personal names have both denotative and connotative functions — shorthand for a bundle of associations attached to a person.

    Archive 2009-08-01 Rebecca Tushnet 2009

  • Or can the interpreting find its way through the connotations without bringing the knife to bear in the name of denotative certainty?

    Archive 2009-07-01 Hal Duncan 2009

  • Or can the interpreting find its way through the connotations without bringing the knife to bear in the name of denotative certainty?

    Notes on Notes Hal Duncan 2009

  • Personal names have both denotative and connotative functions — shorthand for a bundle of associations attached to a person.

    IPSC: trademark and the consumer Rebecca Tushnet 2009

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