Context clues are hints that an author gives to help define a difficult or unusual word within a book. The clue may appear within the same sentence as the word to which it refers or it may follow in the next sentence. A connotation is a commonly understood cultural or emotional association that some word or phrase carries, in addition to its explicit or literal meaning, which is its denotation. A connotation is frequently described as either positive or negative, with regard to its pleasing or displeasing emotional connection.