Thinking of a stone tossed into a pool and ripples spreading out from it can help you understand the distinction between denotation, the dictionary meaning of a word (the stone), and connotation, the associations that accompany the word (the ripples). The words enthusiasm, passion, and obsession, for instance, all carry roughly the same denotation. But the connotations are quite different: an enthusiasm is a pleasurable and absorbing interest; a passion has a strong emotional component and may affect someone positively or negatively; an obsession is an unhealthy attachment that excludes other interests.

Note the differences in connotation among the following three statements:

Students Against Racism (SAR) erected a temporary barrier on the campus oval. They say it symbolizes “the many barriers to those discriminated against by university policies.”

Left-wing agitators threw up an eyesore on the oval to stampede the university into giving in to their demands.

Supporters of human rights for all students challenged the university’s investment in racism by erecting a protest barrier on campus.

The first statement is the most neutral, merely stating facts; the second, using words with negative connotations (agitators, eyesore, stampede), is strongly critical; the third, using a phrase with positive connotations (supporters of human rights) and presenting assertions as facts (the university’s investment in racism), gives a favorable slant to the story.