Connotation Versus Denotation Final

Connotation vs.
Denotation
How do we assign words meaning?

SWBAT
Define connotation and denotation
Read a sentence and determine if

the wording is connotative or
denotative
Connotation and Denotation
 Connotation is the  Denotation is the
emotional and strict dictionary
imaginative meaning of a word.
association
surrounding a word.
“You may live in a house, but we live in
a home.”
 If you were to look up  However, the speaker in
the words house and home the sentence above
in a dictionary, you suggests that home has an
would find that both additional meaning.
words have
approximately the same home
meaning- "a dwelling
place."
house
Connotation and denotation love
 Aside from the strict
dictionary definition, or comfort
denotation, many people
associate such things as
comfort, love, security, or
privacy with a home but do security
not necessarily make the

HOME
same associations with a
house.
privacy
security
Questions to brainstorm….
 What is the first thing that  Why do you think that
comes to your mind when real-estate advertisers use
you think of: the word home more
 a home? frequently than house?
 of a house?
Connotation feelings
 The various feelings,
images, and memories that memories images
surround a word make up
its connotation. Connotation
 Although both house and
home have the same
denotation, or dictionary
meaning, home also has
many connotations
“I know what you said, but what did you mean?”
 A word's denotation is its  A word's connotation is

literal definition. For all the association we have
example: with it. For example:
 Snake: a limbless reptile  "Snake in the grass," the
with a long, scaly body biblical serpent, the danger
of poisonous snakes, our
own fear of snakes or a
malevolent (evil, bad)
person might be called "a
real snake"
Who is hearing the word?
 Connotation can depend  * A plumber might
on the person who hears immediately think of a
the word and brings his or plumbing tool called a
her own associations to it. snake.
 *A biologist might think of
the rare Indigo Snake he
felt lucky to see the past
weekend.
Shades of meaning…
 Some words, though, have shades of meaning that are
commonly recognized.
 While "serpent" is literally a snake, the word "serpent" is
usually associated with evil.
 In today's society, "politician" has somewhat negative
associations, while "statesman" sounds more positive.
Use it in a sentence.
 You will answer ten questions while viewing the upcoming
slides.
 Read the following sentences.
 Annette was surprised.
 Annette was amazed.
 Annette was astonished.
 1. What is the general meaning of each of the three sentences

about Annette? Do the words surprised, amazed, and
astonished have approximately the same denotation?
Use it in a sentence.
 2. What additional meanings are suggested by astonish?
Would one be more likely to be surprised or astonished at
seeing a ghost?
“I was surprised to see a

ghost.”
“I was amazed to see a
ghost.”
“I was astonished to see a
ghost.”
Compare some words.
 Write these examples in your daybook along with your
answers
 3. Which word in each pair below has the more favorable
connotation to you?
 thrifty-penny-pinching
 pushy-aggressive
 politician-statesman
 chef-cook
 slender-skinny
Read it in text.
 Since everyone reacts  cock roach (kok' roch'), n.
emotionally to certain any of an order of
words, writers often nocturnal insects, usually
deliberately select words brown with flattened oval
that they think will bodies, some species of
influence your reactions which are household pests
and appeal to your inhabiting kitchens, areas
emotions. Read the around water pipes, etc.
dictionary definition below. [Spanish cucaracha]
A cockroach?  See what meanings poets
Wild and Morley find in
 4. What does the word
roaches in the following
cockroach mean to you? poems.
 5. Is a cockroach merely
an insect or is it also a
household nuisance and a
disgusting creature?
Roaches
breeding quickly and without design,
Last night when I got up laboring up drainpipes through filth
to let the dog out I spied to the light;
a cockroach in the bathroom I read once they are among
crouched flat on the cool the most antediluvian of creatures,
porcelain, surviving everything, and in more primitive
delicate times
antennae probing the toothpaste cap thrived to the size of your hand...
and feasting himself on a gob yet when sinking asleep
of it in the bowl: or craning at the stars,
I killed him with one unprofessional I can feel their light feet
blow, probing in my veins,
scattering arms and legs their whiskers nibbling
and half his body in the sink... the insides of my toes;
I would have no truck with roaches, and neck arched,
crouched like lions in the ledges of feel their patient scrambling
sewers up the dark tubes of my throat.
their black eyes in the darkness
alert for tasty slime, ---Peter Wild
from Nursery Rhymes for the How delightful to suspect
Tender-hearted All the places you have trekked:
Scuttle, scuttle, little roach- Does your long antenna whisk its
How you run when I approach: Gentle tip across the biscuits?
Up above the pantry shelf Do you linger, little soul,
Hastening to secrete yourself. Drowsing in our sugar bowl?
Or, abandonment most utter,
Most adventurous of vermin, Shake a shimmy on the butter?
How I wish I could determine Do you chant your simple tunes
How you spend your hours of ease, Swimming in the baby's prunes?
Perhaps reclining on the cheese. Then, when dawn comes, do you
slink
Cook has gone, and all is dark- Homeward to the kitchen sink?
Then the kitchen is your park; Timid roach, why be so shy?
In the garbage heap that she leaves We are brothers, thou and I,
Do you browse among the tea In the midnight, like yourself,
leaves? I explore the pantry shelf!
--Christopher Morley
Reading into the poems…
 Reread the dictionary  6. Which of the denotative
definition. characteristics of a
 cock roach (kok' roch'), n. cockroach do both poets
any of an order of include in the poems?
nocturnal insects, usually
brown with flattened oval
bodies, some species of
which are household pests
inhabiting kitchens, areas
around water pipes, etc.
 7. What  8. What additional
characteristics does characteristics does
Wild give his roaches Morley give to
that are not in the roaches?
dictionary definition?
 In each poem, the insect  9. Which poet
acquires meaning beyond
succeeds in giving
its dictionary definition.
Both poets lead us away
roaches favorable
from a literal view of connotations?
roaches to a nonliteral
one.  10. Which poet comes
closer to expressing
your own feelings
about roaches?
More practice…..
 Directions: For these conditions, first think of a word with a
positive connotation, and then think of a word with a
negative connotation.

 Condition Positive Connotation Negative Connotation
 1. Overweight
 2. Short
 3. Not smart
 4. Unattractive
 5. Non-athletic
 6. Self-focused

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Connotation vs.

How do we assign words meaning?

Read a sentence and determine if

not necessarily make the

 A word's denotation is its  A word's connotation is

 1. What is the general meaning of each of the three sentences

“I was surprised to see a

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