denotative

[ dee-noh-tey-tiv, dih-noh-tuh-tiv ]

/ ˈdi noʊˌteɪ tɪv, dɪˈnoʊ tə tɪv /

having power to denote.

denoting or tending to denote: the denotative meaning of a word.

Origin of denotative

1605–15; < Latin dēnotātus (past participle of dēnotāre to mark out, denote) + -ive

de·no·ta·tive·ly, adverb de·no·ta·tive·ness, noun non·de·no·ta·tive, adjective non·de·no·ta·tive·ly, adverb

un·de·no·ta·tive, adjective un·de·no·ta·tive·ly, adverb

Most terms (the exceptions and doubtful cases will be discussed hereafter) have two functions, a denotative and a connotative.

Logic |Carveth Read
In every language those words which are denotative of sounds are nearly always also imitative of them.

Materials and Methods of Fiction |Clayton Hamilton
It finds that "reality" is a denotative term, a word used to designate indifferently everything that happens.

Creative Intelligence |John Dewey, Addison W. Moore, Harold Chapman Brown, George H. Mead, Boyd H. Bode, Henry Waldgrave, Stuart James, Hayden Tufts, Horace M. Kallen
The workings of my thought thus determine both its denotative and its connotative significance more fully.

The Meaning of Truth |William James

Meaning here, then, can be neither the connotative nor denotative reference of a term; they are covered by the two prior formulae.

Essays in Experimental Logic |John Dewey

denotative

/ (dɪˈnəʊtətɪv) /

able to denote; designative

explicit; overt

denotatively, adverb