词句意义的延伸变化不受指称的限制，超越了其指称场界。我们来考察两个句子：
(1) 她这一变心，弄得家不像个家了。
(2) A thief is a thief.
第（1）句中的第二个“家”的涵义已经不同于第一个“家”字，第二个“家”具有温暖、和睦等等感情意义，而第一个家仅指家庭这个有名无实的实体，也就是它的概念意义。同样第（2）句中的第二个thief的含义已经不同于第一个thief。第二个thief 具有偷窃成性，难以从良的涵义。这类主要由言者表示态度、观感或价值观(attitudes,feelings or values)，从而使概念意义得以充实、延伸、附加或特殊着色的意义，语义学上称为内涵意义或含蓄意义(connotative meaning)，与所指意义或外延意义(denotative meaning)对应。内涵意义其所以比指称宽泛，是因为在语言交流中这个词义增加了“交流价值”(communicative value)，增加了为其指称所不能涵盖的“推断性质”(putative properties)。“如鱼得水”中的“水”具正面价值，而“血浓于水”中
的“水”则具负面价值。里奇（G. Leech）在说明这一点时写道：
More of what is distinctive about conceptual meaning will appear when we contrast it with connotative meaning. Connotative meaning is the communicative value, an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual meaning. Still further, connotative meaning can embrace the“putative properties”of the referent, due to the viewpoint adopted by an individual, or a group of people or a
whole society.
内涵意义主要发挥人际言语交流中的感应、感召作用：
Connotative meaning reflect the valuing process of interpretation. As people respond to and talk about things, they evaluate, People like things or don't like them, think something is good or not. These feeling (valuing) responses provide the connotative meanings. Indeed, this valuing process may provide the most important meanings we attach to words, and we have negative or positive reactions to most words. Very often children acquire these connotative meanings before they develop denotative meanings for the same words. Connotative meanings are thus more basic, more deeply rooted, and more likely than denotations to determine how we respond to words.
可见，内涵意义充分说明了意义的人文性，意义的此岸性，因为它总是与我们正在谈论的“真实世界”(real world)相连，而又“若即若离”。任何人都无法穷尽某一个词的全部内涵意义，它的随机性和开放性使这个词的所指意义千变万化。歌德有句名言，“理论是灰黯的，生命之树则是碧绿的”，句中两个色彩词都饱含内涵意义，究竟蕴含什么意义那就见仁见智了。“一树黄梅个个青”一句中含有一个悖理：“黄梅”怎么会“青”呢？答案就在connotation 里了！
超指称的意义系统中还有多种意义是我们必须把握的。
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