Lexicographers identify two principal modes of establishing the meaning of headwords, both of which are generally used in each dictionary entry: denotation and connotation. The former attempts a precise indication of meaning, beginning with a genus word and then providing differentiae that distinguish the term from others in the same class, often using a matrix to establish elements of contrast that make the definition steadily more precise. Connotation, on the other hand, provides synonyms and paraphrases, but works by providing examples of usage, arranged diachronically or analytically according to the logical developments of the word and its occurrences. A good definition will provide both denotative and connotative information, and in a historical or academic dictionary the definition will also note which usages of the headword are standard or accepted and which are unusual, perhaps extensions from the standard usages or idiomatic, even idiolectal, collocations. The term “medievalism” offers particular difficulties and confusions, given that its etymologically inspired meaning might be “study about the Middle Ages,” both in English and in some other European languages. Although scholars who study the Middle Ages and who style themselves medievalists occasionally consider themselves to be engaging in medievalism – particularly when they stray into the historiography of their field – nonetheless that interpretation is universally rejected by the scholars who engage in the study of medievalism, and that rejection has achieved some measure of general acceptance in humanistic scholarship.