Which term is defined as the meaning of a word in relation to its referents, also known as referential meaning?

• A. Denotative Meaning
• B. Referential Meaning
• C. Contextual Clues
• D. Discourse Competence

Answer: (A)

Denotative meaning is the literal, referential sense of a word—the direct relationship between the word and the things it refers to. This is the meaning you find in dictionaries: the set of entities or concepts the term denotes. Since the question describes the meaning in relation to its referents, denotative meaning is the standard label for that sense. Some sources use the term referential meaning to describe the same idea, but denotative meaning is the commonly used term. Contextual clues and discourse competence, by contrast, relate to how meaning is inferred from surrounding text and how language is used in larger social contexts, not the fixed reference of a single word.