denotation
de·no·ta·tion/ˌdiː.noʊˈteɪ.ʃən/noun
denotation is spelled D-E-N-O-T-A-T-I-O-N: 10 letters and 4 syllables (de·no·ta·tion). It appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 106,501st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “connotation vs denotation” about 9,900 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, denotation means “The act of denoting, or something (such as a symbol) that denotes” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of denotation is denotations.
How many letters and syllables are in denotation?
| Letters | 10: D-E-N-O-T-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: de·no·ta·tion |
| In writing | about once in every 13 million words; the 106,501st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is denotation?
Denotation appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 106,501st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce denotation?
- US /ˌdiː.noʊˈteɪ.ʃən/
Denotation has 4 syllables, split de·no·ta·tion in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-denotation.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with denotation
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with denotation?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as denotation from its last stressed vowel (/eɪʃən/):
- situation
- association
- population
- administration
- operation
- organization
- application
- location
- generation
- foundation
- conversation
- investigation
Spelled with the same letters in another order: detonation.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of denotation
- denotations plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does denotation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of denoting, or something (such as a symbol) that denotes
- 2
The primary, surface, literal, or explicit meaning of a signifier such as a word, phrase, or symbol; that which a word denotes, as contrasted with its connotation; the aggregate or set of objects of which a word may be predicated.
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.
- 3
The intension and extension of a word
- 4
Something signified or referred to; a particular meaning of a symbol
- 5
Any mathematical object which describes the meanings of expressions from the languages, formalized in the theory of denotational semantics
- 6
A first level of analysis: what the audience can visually see on a page. Denotation often refers to something literal, and avoids being a metaphor.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Denotation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense act of denoting:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | dénotation |
| Portuguese | denotação |
| Spanish | denotación |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does denotation come from?
From Late Latin dēnotātiō, from Latin dēnotāre (“to denote, mark out”) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns of action), from dē- (“completely”) + notāre (“to mark”); equivalent to denote + -ation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).