Connotation - the emotional or cultural association they carry. Depending on what emotion a word evokes, its connotation can be defined as negative, neutral, or positive.
The words <em>convince, persuade, </em>and <em>influence</em> have a neutral connotation. The only word that has a negative connotation is <em>brainwash</em>. When someone brainwashes someone else, they lead them to believe something by continually telling them that it is true while preventing them from thinking about it properly. Whenever we use this word, we're talking about a negative occurrence.
