From to denote (from Middle French denoter, from Latin denotare "denote, mark out", itself from de- "completely" + notare "to mark") + -ation

* Rhymes: -eɪʃən

DENOTATION (_plural_ DENOTATIONS) * The act of denoting, or something (such as a symbol) that denotes * (logic, linguistics, semiotics) The primary, literal, or explicit meaning of 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._ * (philosophy, logic) The intension and extension of a word * (semantics) Something signified or referred to; a particular meaning of a symbol * (semiotics) The surface or literal meaning encoded to a signifier, and the definition most likely to appear in a dictionary * (computer science) Any mathematical object which describes the meanings of expressions from the languages, formalized in the theory of denotational semantics * (media-studies) 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. DERIVED TERMS * denotative RELATED TERMS * connotation TRANSLATIONS REFERENCES * _Oxford English Dictionary_, Second Edition, 1989

* detonation * taeniodont