I had mentioned that the answers to the puzzle are words which have a negative connotation when applied to women. It was quite a different one from the earlier puzzles that I had created and posted on FB. It is often helpful to avoid words with strong connotations when striving to achieve a neutral point of view.A week ago, I created a crossword puzzle and asked my FB friends to solve it. Though having the same meaning, there lies a difference in placing the words, strong-willed connotes applause for the level of someone’s will, whereas pig-headed connotes adamant behaviour and frustration in dealing with someone. ‘Mature’ conveys the connotation of dignified, whereas, ‘elderly’ sounds “old.”Ī stubborn person can be described as being either strong-willed or pig-headed. Negative connotation: My new neighbour is an elderly woman. Solved Examples Q1: Give an example to explain the difference between positive and negative connotations.Īnswer: Positive connotation: My new neighbour is a mature woman. Mutually, choosing words with the wrong connotation can produce an undesired reaction or emotion and misrepresent one’s intentions. They can obtain certain emotions or reactions or help to provide distinct impressions of things. While writing or speaking, connotation places a style to clearly express one’s intentions. The emotions or meanings associated with words can be everything. Thus, it is one of the most critical things to consider when it comes to word choice, both in literature and everyday conversation. It is important to note that not all are solely ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ connotations, depending on how a word is used, it can connote different things. Hence saying, “You are a dog” would connote that you were bad rather than denoting you as a canine. The denotation of a dog is (like) a four-legged canine carnivore. Its connotation is what it implies about the things it is used to refer to. The denotation of a word is the collection of things it refers to. Otherwise, the connotation of the word may be thought of as the set of all its possible meanings. Connotation often differs from denotation, which is more or less synonymous with extension. Both “aroma” and “stench” instead of having the same meaning smell, “stench” has a negative connotation, thus, the meal sounds much less appealing.īy logic, the connotation is roughly synonymous with intention. In a sentence “the aroma of my grandmother’s cooking”, if we change “aroma” so that it now reads “the stench of my grandmother’s cooking,” the meaning changes completely. It is a word whose connotation implies negative emotions and associations. It is a bad feeling or negative vibes that people get when hearing a specific word or phrase. The negative connotation also called unfavourable connotation, is the word describing the negative qualities or the disabilities or are disrespectful of a person. Rich, loaded, privileged, wealthy, affluent. Again we have a colour blue, but it is also a word used to describe a feeling of sadness, as in ‘She is feeling blue.’. Like we can say a possible connotation of “home” is “a place of warmth, comfort, and affection”. We learned above what is connotation now let us take a look at some connotation examples. We have mentioned a few connotation examples below. A connotation is an additional meaning to a word and the examples are endless.
Now, there can be either positive, negative, or neutral connotations. The connotative meaning of a word is based on the shared emotional association with a word. We can define connotation by an associated meaning of a word suggested apart from its explicit or primary meaning.
The words you choose significantly change the meaning of a sentence. Although two words may have the same meaning, their connotations may vary. Choosing the right words is essential while you communicate.
A rich vocabulary allows you to choose the right words to express yourself. Words can be divided into negative, positive, and neutral connotations. It is created when you mean something else, something that might be initially hidden. It paints a picture or invokes a feeling. The connotation is an expression or secondary meaning of a word, which is expressed by a word in addition to its primary meaning.