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Denotative vs Figurative - What's the difference?

denotative | figurative |

As adjectives the difference between denotative and figurative

is that denotative is that denotes or names; designative while figurative is metaphorical or tropical, as opposed to literal; using figures; as of the use of "cats and dogs" in the phrase "it's raining cats and dogs".

denotative

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • That denotes or names; designative
  • * (Oliver Sacks), Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf
  • There was still no concept of language (arithmetical symbolism, perhaps, is not a language, is not denotative in the same sense as words).
  • Specific to the primary meaning of a term
  • Anagrams

    * ----

    figurative

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Metaphorical or tropical, as opposed to literal; using figures; as of the use of "cats and dogs" in the phrase "It's raining cats and dogs".
  • * '>citation
  • Metaphorically so called
  • With many figures of speech
  • Emblematic; representative
  • * Hooker
  • This, they will say, was figurative , and served, by God's appointment, but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity.
  • * J. A. Symonds
  • They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form.

    Usage notes

    * Said of language, expression, etc.

    Antonyms

    * literal

    Derived terms

    * figurativeness * figuratively