Denotations are the meat and potatoes of the word, what it really means. Connontations are the flip side of that, the subtle nuances you’re talking about. For example, “autumn” and “fall” have the same denotations, but “autumn” also carries connotations of beauty and grace that “fall” doesn’t. (That’s why nobody names their daughter Fall :))

When you look in your dictionary, you’ll see 1.)_____2.)______3.)______ etc. Each number represents a different DEFINITION.

The different WAYS a word can be used means within one definition.

Such as: He stole money. (stealing $$, a bad thing to do)

The runner stole first base. (getting ahead in the game, a good thing to do in baseball)

She stole my heart. (she won you over, hopefully a good thing in a different way than baseball)

So, the choice C. is the one to make, because these examples of one word show that it can have different “shadings.” That just means a slightly different slant on the same word. “Shadings” like with one color in a picture.

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