what is the denotative of cheap and inexpensive?

Answer 1

Cheap means poorly made.

Inexpensive means very low price.

I work at a store, and I find that young people dont' make this distinction. They always ask for something cheap. I use to use cheap a lot as well to mean inexpensive, but my much older uncle always corrected me.

Answer 2

Are you looking for the denotative meaning? Before we proceed, what is denotation or denotative meaning? Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary definition."¨ For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its denotative meanings is "any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles,having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions."

Since you're not looking for connotation, let's proceed.

CHEAP - cheap Audio pronunciation of "cheap" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (chp)
***
1. Relatively low in cost; inexpensive or comparatively inexpensive.
2. Charging low prices: a cheap restaurant.
***
1. Obtainable at a low rate of interest. Used especially of money.
2. Devalued, as in buying power: cheap dollars.
3. Achieved with little effort: a cheap victory; cheap laughs.
4. Of or considered of small value: in wartime, when life was cheap.
5. Of poor quality; inferior: a cheap toy.
6. Worthy of no respect; vulgar or contemptible: a cheap gangster.
7. Stingy; miserly.

INEXPENSIVE - in·ex·pen·sive Audio pronunciation of "inexpensive" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nk-spnsv)
adj.

Not high in price; cheap.
adj : relatively low in price or charging low prices; "it would have been cheap at twice the price"; "inexpensive family restaurants" [syn: cheap] [ant: expensive]

Therefore, these terms are synonymous because as you can see in one of the definitions of cheap it means inexpensive and vice versa. Most people sometimes opt for inexpensive rather than cheap because of its connotative meaning.

Answer 3

cheap means costing less than the normal and inexpensive means the price is affordable.