Connote or denote?
connote is a verb meaning “To signify beyond its literal or principal meaning”; denote is a verb meaning “To indicate; to mark”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) denote is about 21 times as common as connote.
What is the difference between connote and denote?
| connote | denote | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb | verb |
| Meaning | To signify beyond its literal or principal meaning To possess an inseparable related condition; to imply as a logical consequence | To indicate; to mark To make overt |
| Example | Racism often connotes an underlying fear or ignorance | The yellow blazes denote the trail |
| Forms | connotes, connoting, connoted | denotes, denoting, denoted |
| Pronunciation | /kəˈnəʊt/ /kɒˈnəʊt/ /kəˈnoʊt/ | /dɪˈnəʊt/ /dɪˈnoʊt/ |
| In writing | about once in every 11 million words | 1.9 times per million words |
Sources: connote and denote in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of connote and denote
connote
- 1
To signify beyond its literal or principal meaning
Racism often connotes an underlying fear or ignorance
- 2
To possess an inseparable related condition; to imply as a logical consequence
Poverty connotes hunger
- 3
To express without overt reference; to imply
- 4
To require as a logical predicate to consequence
denote
- 1
To indicate; to mark
The yellow blazes denote the trail
- 2
To make overt
- 3
To refer to literally; to convey as objective meaning
The prefix pre- denotes "before", as in preview
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, connote or denote?
connote appears about once in every 11 million words; denote 1.9 times per million words.
connote about once in every 11 million wordsdenote 1.9 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).