Connotation

A Connotation is a Relation between a Referencer and an Agent's interpretation of the Referent.

Context:
- “Word XXX is politically incorrect because its [connotation], in some people, is of YYY.”
See: Denotation, Connotative Word Sense Definition.

References

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/connotation
- S: (n) intension, connotation (what you must know in order to determine the reference of an expression)
- S: (n) connotation (an idea that is implied or suggested)
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/connote
- Verb
  - 1. (transitive) To signify beyond its literal or principal meaning. Racism often connotes an underlying fear or ignorance.
  - 2. (transitive) To possess an inseparable related condition; to imply as a logical consequence. Poverty connotes hunger.
  - 3. (intransitive) To express without overt reference; to imply
  - 4. (intransitive) To require as a logical predicate to consequence
- Synonyms
  - (possess an inseparable condition): entail, imply
  - (express without overt reference): entail, imply
  - (require as a logical predicate): predicate
- Related terms
  - connotation
  - connotative
  - connotatively
  - connotive

(M-W Colleg. Dict., 1999) ⇒ Merriam-Webster. (1999). “Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition.
- NOTES: It suggests that a Dictionary Entry focuses on the Denotation of Words rather than their Connotation.
- QUOTE: Perhaps the first thing that we need to remind ourselves of is that when we speak of the meaning of a word we are employing an artificial, if highly useful, convention. Meaning does not truly reside within the word but in the minds of those who hear or read it. This fact alone guarantees that the meaning will be to a great degree amorphous: no two people have had exactly the same experience with what a word refers to and so the meaning of the word will be slightly or greatly different for each of us.
- QUOTE: So dictionary editors involve the traditional distinction between denotation - the direct and specific part of meaning which is sometimes indicated as the total of all the referents of a word and is shared by all or most people who use the word - and connotation - the more personal association and shades of meaning that gather about a word as a result of individual experience and which may not be widely shared. The dictionary concerns itself essentially with the denotations of words.

(Wikipedia, 2017) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connotation Retrieved:2017-6-19.
- A connotation is a commonly understood cultural or emotional association that some word or phrase carries, in their stomach, in addition to the word's or phrase's explicit or literal meaning, which is its denotation.
  A connotation is frequently described as either positive or negative, with regard to its pleasing or displeasing emotional connection. For example, a stubborn person may be described as being either strong-willed or pig-headed ; although these have the same literal meaning (stubborn), strong-willed connotes admiration for the level of someone's will (a positive connotation), while pig-headed connotes frustration in dealing with someone (a negative connotation).