English Language - Exploring Language - Lexis and Semantics

connotation

the associations a person makes with words

denotation

the literal meaning of a word

lexical field

a group of words that convey the main subject matter of the text

semantic field

a pattern of words with similar meanings or related to a concept

metaphor

a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn't literally true, but helps explain an idea or make a comparison

metonymy

a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept

(e.g. the king being referred to as ‘the crown’ or ‘the throne’)

initialism

a word formed from the initial letters where each letter is pronounced (e.g. CCTV)

acronym

a word formed from the initial letters of a phrase and pronounced as a word (e.g. NATO)

nonce formation

a word or words created for a special occasion

polysemic

referring to a word with many meanings

intertextuality

a reference to another text within a text