Question

The round, keen eyes of the black child were overcast with tears; – large, bright drops rolled heavily down, one by one, and fell on the little white hand. (p.239) In the excerpt above, which word has a connotative, rather than a denotative, meaning? round black overcast white

Answer 1

overcast

A word's denotative meaning is its dictionary definition: what it is in black and white. A word's connotative meaning is an idea or feeling the word creates that is separate from the denotative meaning. The words round, black and white all accurately describe the nouns. The child is black, the hand is white, the eyes are round. The eyes are described as overcast with tears to show the turmoil and sadness. This is the connotative meaning. The denotative meaning of overcast relates to the weather and the sky having a dull, gray cloudy cover.