denotation

noun

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.

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.”

   “Regarding denotation, the terms were generally used to refer to a wide range of language contact varieties and features.”

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.