denotation
/ˌdiː.noʊˈteɪ.ʃən/
"denotation" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“denotation” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of denoting, or something (such as a symbol) that denotes
Corpus desk
Index EN-denotation · denotation · English
denotation · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | denotation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌdiː.noʊˈteɪ.ʃən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “denotation” in English
Rare enough to double-check
denotation is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌdiː.noʊˈteɪ.ʃən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.
denotation has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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. The correct English form is denotation, spelled D-E-N-O-T-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of denoting, or something (such as a symbol) that denotes
- 2The 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.
- 3The intension and extension of a word
- 4Something signified or referred to; a particular meaning of a symbol
- 5Any mathematical object which describes the meanings of expressions from the languages, formalized in the theory of denotational semantics
- 6A first level of analysis: what the audience can visually see on a page. Denotation often refers to something literal, and avoids being a metaphor.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how denotation appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
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.
Regarding denotation, the terms were generally used to refer to a wide range of language contact varieties and features.
Etymology
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.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.