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While firm, obstinate, and pig-headed are all synonymous with stubbornness, the emotive connotations of these words are different. Firm carries a positive connotation, obstinate carries a neutral (or slightly negative) connotation, and pig-headed fool carries a negative connotation. Thus, most individuals have a positive reaction toward the ...
A connotation is a commonly understood cultural or emotional association that any given word or phrase carries, in addition to its explicit or literal meaning, which is its denotation. A connotation is frequently described as either positive or negative, with regard to its pleasing or displeasing emotional connection. [ 1 ]
Cougar: [11] [12] An American slang term referring to older women who have romantic or sexual relations with younger men, although the term can also have a positive connotation depending on the situation or circumstance. Crone: [7] An ugly or witch-like old woman.
a chance meeting (negative connotation) rundown (n.) a reduction (as of an establishment) a detailed summary (orig. US slang) a type of play in baseball tired, depressed. runner (n.) to do a runner is to leave suddenly without notice, typically from a taxi or restaurant without payment [62] (US: dine-and-dash, from a restaurant) a competitor in ...
If a word with a strong negative semantic prosody (e.g. onslaught) co-occurs with a positive word (e.g. hospitality) instead of an expected negative word (e.g. an onslaught of hospitality), a range of effects are possible as a result of such a collocational clash: [5] irony, expression of a subtle hidden meaning, often negative evaluation,
One aspect of loaded language is that loaded words and phrases occur in pairs, sometimes as political framing techniques by individuals with opposing agendas. Heller calls these "a Boo! version and a Hooray! version" to differentiate those with negative and positive emotional connotations.
"Unpaired words" at World Wide Words "Absent antonyms" at 2Wheels: The Return; Words with no opposite equivalent, posted by James Briggs on April 2, 2003, at The Phrase Finder; Brev Is the Soul of Wit, Ben Schott, The New York Times, April 19, 2010; Parker, J. H. "The Mystery of The Vanished Positive" in Daily Mail, Annual for Boys and Girls, 1953
The word derives from the Hebrew ḥuṣpāh (חֻצְפָּה), meaning "insolence", "cheek" or "audacity". Thus, the original Yiddish word has a strongly negative connotation, but the form which entered English as a Yiddishism in American English has taken on a broader meaning, having been popularized through vernacular use in film ...