connotative versus denotative meaning

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connotative versus denotative meaning Connotative meaning refers to the associations, overtones, and feel which a concept has, rather than what it refers to explicitly (or denotes, hence denotative meaning). Two words with the same reference or definition may have different connotations. Connotative meaning is often researched using the semantic differential, based in part on the phenomenon of synaesthesia, where experience in one sense modality is perceived with (or replaces) another modality: for example, where a sound is perceived as a colour or emotion, as in blue or sad music. See also DISCOURSE.