How to use connotation in a sentence
40 example sentences · noun
Connotation means a meaning of a word or phrase that is suggested or implied, as opposed to a denotation, or literal meaning. A characteristic of words or phrases, or of the contexts that words and phrases are used in. Example: “The word "advisedly" has a connotation of "wisely", although it denotes merely "intentionally" and "deliberately."”
Examples of connotation by meaning
nounA meaning of a word or phrase that is suggested or implied, as opposed to a denotation, or literal meaning. A...
- The word "advisedly" has a connotation of "wisely", although it denotes merely "intentionally" and "deliberately."
- The word "happy" has a positive connotation, while "sad" has a negative connotation.
nounThe attribute or aggregate of attributes connoted by a term, contrasted with denotation.
- The two expressions "the morning star" and "the evening star" have different connotations but the same denotation (i.e. the planet Venus).
More sentences with connotation
- Aliens have a nefarious connotation in many science fiction books.From the entry nefarious
- The denotations of the two expressions "the morning star" and "the evening star" are the same (i.e. both expressions denote the planet Venus), but their connotations are different.From the entry denotation
- Gay may not be ideal, and it has acquired negative connotations in recent years.2015, John Lauritsen, “Down With LGBTQ!”, in Gay Liberation, Utrecht University, archived from the original on 23 Dec 2022. From the entry dorian
- The term 'denier' is also controversial, with connotations that climate denial is akin to Holocaust denial.2013, G. Thomas Farmer, John Cook, Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis, →ISBN, page 446. From the entry climate denial
- Our horrific connotations lie not so much with the mummy itself, but in associated fears.2007, S. T. Joshi, Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares, volume 1, page 376. From the entry mummy
- Just as kosher is used as slang for "legitimate" or "a-okay", pareve has slang connotations, too.[2001, Leo Rosten, Lawrence Bush, “pareve”, in The New Joys of Yiddish, New York, N.Y.: Three Rivers Press, →ISBN, page 281, footnote. From the entry pareve
- It's too negative a connotation, and one that I try diligently to avoid.1999 June 21, Alice in Stonyland [username], “Re: The Ultimate Mary Sue--A Recommendation”, in alt.tv.highlander.creative (Usenet). From the entry ofc
- They use words like appraisal, evaluation, assessment, their Roget's litany, to avoid the constrained "test" connotation.1987, Robert Mills Gagné, Instructional Technology: Foundations, page 364. From the entry Roget's
- The term ‘public school’ has a different connotation in New Zealand.1932, Nelle Scanlan, Pencarrow, section 256. From the entry public school
- He has also apologized for using the terms “venomous coalition” and “globalist class”, saying he did not realize their antisemitic connotations.[2025 November 20, J. Oliver Conroy, “White nationalist Nick Fuentes is exposing a civil war among US Republicans: ‘We look like clowns’”…. From the entry venomous
- The dubbed statement, however, seems to reflect different connotations.2019, Sofía Sánchez-Mompeán, The Prosody of Dubbed Speech: Beyond the Character's Words, page 121. From the entry dubbed
- The inauspicious connotations of Mercury retrograde are actually quite old, evidenced in an ancient branch of astrology known as horary astrology.2018 March 22, Wilder Davies, “Mercury Is Entering Retrograde Again. This Is Why So Many People Care”, in Time, archived from the original…. From the entry retrograde
- A principal distinction to draw between Satanism and Odalism is the national socialist connotations of the latter movement.2017, Jason Wallin, Jeffrey Podoshen, Vivek Venkatesh, “Second wave true Norwegian black metal: an ideologically evil music scene?”, in…. From the entry odalism
- They work by association, detonating a collision of connotations.2012, Jonathan Gray, Watching with The Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality, →ISBN. From the entry walk in straight lines
- In the leather industry skive has another connotation, concerning splitting the skin perpendicularly to its thickness into thin layers.2009, Geoffrey A. Ozin, André C. Arsenault, Ludovico Cademartiri, Nanochemistry: A Chemical Approach to Nanomaterials, →ISBN, page 99. From the entry skive
- "E-smoking" is a bit of a handful, "Misting" sounds far too fey, "Vaporizing" or "Vaping" has drug connotations.2007 December 18, SmokeyJoe, "Well it's not smoking....So what is it?"…. From the entry vape
- “Childish”, “child-like”, etc. usually have very negative or derogatory connotations.2004 February-March [1978 December 14], (I)An-ok Ta Chai, “Youth Liberation”, in Slingshot, number #80. From the entry n-word
- But what about the women who still go to bars — are they completely unaffected by these negative connotations?1984, Steven Carter, What every man should know about the "new woman": a survival guide. From the entry pickup
- The pious connotations put men off, it was averred.1983, A. N. Wilson, Scandal: or Priscilla's Kindness, Penguin, published 1985, →ISBN, page 1. From the entry Bernadette
- The word "socialist" has so many connotations that it can cover almost anything from pink liberalism to red-red communism.1976, Bhalchandra Pundlik Adarkar, The Future of the Constitution: A Critical Analysis. From the entry pink
- A gaycat is a young punk who runs with an older tramp and there is always a connotation of homosexuality.1962, Raymond Chandler, Raymond Chandler Speaking, page 87. From the entry finger man
- Because Plato allowed them to co-exist, the meaning and connotations of the one overlap those of the other, and ambiguities arise.1961, J. A. Philip, “Mimesis in the Sophistês of Plato,”, in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, volume…. From the entry arise
- And the cartoonish connotations are apt: just like such fictional battles, p(doom) estimates are based in fantasy rather than data or empirical fact.2025, Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna, “An Introduction to AI Hype”, in The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We…. From the entry p(doom)
- Gender-based microinsults convey hidden offensive messages, while the perpetrators may remain unaware of the negative connotations reflected by their words and actions.2017, Kevin L. Nadal, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender, SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 1182. From the entry microinsult
- Don’t assume that the connotations of authority, history, scholarship, hallowed tradition and judiciousness in the word “Academy” actually fit this self-serving club.2016 March 3, David Thomson, “Biggest lesson of the 2016 Oscars? The Academy should be scrapped”, in The Guardian, archived from the…. From the entry self-serving
- The connotation associated with "nomenclate" is one of an existent system in which one assigns some pre-determinable, precise name to a given form.2004, Seymour B. Elk, A New Unifying Biparametric Nomenclature that Spans all of Chemistry: The science of incorporating daily over 2,000…. From the entry nomenclate
- An old site with sacral connotations.2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 877. From the entry sacral
- When asked to identify themselves, the residents of the city readily respond “Shanghaiese,” whose connotations today reflect an attitude of superiority, confidence, and high self-esteem.1998, James Stuart Olson, An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China, Greenwood Press, published 1998, page 301. From the entry Shanghainese
- For the few days a story topic is Topic A, elite members of the subculture rush to shape its most widely accepted connotation.1998, Douglas Gomery, Media in America: The Wilson Quarterly Reader, page 115. From the entry Topic A
- "Frankenfood" carries connotations of mad scientists dabbling in Things Man Was Not Meant To Know and releasing their products into the environment to wreak havoc.1994, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, volume 114, number 11, page 5. From the entry frankenword
- One of the most defining outcomes of the study was the acknowledgement that the use of self-deprecating humour doesn’t necessarily have negative connotations, as previously thought.2018 February 18, “Self-deprecating humour linked to greater psychological wellbeing, study finds”, in The Independent. From the entry self-deprecating
- We've imbued "natural food" with such virtuous connotations that meat supposedly raised according to the law of nature is, ipso facto, thought to be an ethically worthwhile choice.2011 April 8, James McWilliams, “An Inconvenient Truth: Free-Range Meat Isn't 'Natural'”, in The Atlantic. From the entry ipso facto
- The Sciascian island and the ‘isle-solitude’ that follows from it, considered both with its good and bad connotations (as a port and a refuge), in Sciascia becomes an ideology.2011, Ubaldo Riccobono, “‘Isle-solitudes’ and European Archaeologies in Leonardo Sciascia”, in Rossella M. Riccobono, editor, The Poetics…. From the entry Sicilianism
- The reversed view on the relation between connotation and notations starts with a connotative frame instead of a notative center, and it proceeds “down” or “inwards.”2010, Marc-Oliver Schuster, H.C. Artmann's Structuralist Imagination, page 270. From the entry notative
- This type of 'get-passive' typically bears adversative connotation, i.e. it is not used to express passives if the patient is not somewhat negatively affected by the event.2004, Umberto Ansaldo, “The evolution of Singapore English”, in Lisa Lim, editor, Singapore English: A Grammatical Description, page 138. From the entry adversative
- Whereas most poetry avails somehow of the plastic arts to enhance or "charge" language with meaning, logopoeia dances intellectually through verbal connotations, clichés, citations, and resonances.2002, Lucia Boldrini, Medieval Joyce, →ISBN, page 69. From the entry logopoeia
- That being so, it is hardly possible to avoid the feeling that 'High tide' and 'the heron dived' also have symbolic connotations in addition to their denotatory meaning.1982, Allan Rodway, The Craft of Criticism, page 22. From the entry denotatory
Meaning of connotation
- noun A meaning of a word or phrase that is suggested or implied, as opposed to a denotation, or literal meaning. A characteristic of words or phrases, or of the contexts that words and phrases are used in.
- noun The attribute or aggregate of attributes connoted by a term, contrasted with denotation.
Questions about connotation in a sentence
- How do you use connotation in a sentence?
- Connotation is used as a noun. For example: “The word "advisedly" has a connotation of "wisely", although it denotes merely "intentionally" and "deliberately."”
- What is a short sentence with connotation?
- “An old site with sacral connotations.”
- What does connotation mean?
- Connotation means a meaning of a word or phrase that is suggested or implied, as opposed to a denotation, or literal meaning. A characteristic of words or phrases, or of the contexts that words and phrases are used in.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: connotation (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use connotation in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/connotation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
