Connotation / denotation
The denotation of a word is its direct, literal or specific meaning (the one that can be found as a head word in any dictionary). If a word also has implied or associated meanings when used in a particular context, the meanings created are called the word’s connotations.
The word ‘cat’ is here being used with its denotation: ‘A cat is a furry animal with claws’; however, the same word can also take on extra meanings when used in a different context, often metaphorical, e.g. ‘She fought like a cat’.
Some words have several possible denotations: ‘a cricket bat’, ‘a vampire bat’, ‘They bat next’ (and there are many other slang and dialect meanings): words that have several denotations are called polysemic. Polysemy is an area of semantics and pragmatics.
