What is denotation?

Question

1. the feeling or idea that a word suggests
2. the literal meaning of a word
3. a direct comparison that does not use like or as
4. words and phrases that have a meaning different from their literal meaning

Answer 1

Denotation is defined as:

2. the literal meaning of a word.

Denotation refers to the explicit, dictionary definition of a word, without any emotional associations or secondary meanings.