Explain the denotative and conbotative meanings of flatten the curve

Denotative Meaning: To prevent a rate or quantity from intensifying.

Connotative Meaning: A public health strategy to reduce the spread of a disease.

Explanation:

The denotative meaning of a word is the literal meaning of that word excluding the ideas, emotions and meanings that people have attached to it.

The connotative meaning of a word on the other hand refers to the ideas, emotions and meanings that a particular word carries in addition to its literal meaning. This usually depends on how a word has been used overtime.

According to the Oxford dictionary, flatten the curve means to prevent a rate or quantity from greatly intensifying or increasing within a short period of time.

Today, a google search of "flatten the curve" rarely displays its denotative meaning. Rather, a lot of articles on how to reduce the spread of the 2019 Corona Virus are displayed. Flatten the curve has become a public health strategy to slow down the spread of a disease, in recent times, the Corona Virus disease.

Because of how the phrase has been used overtime, a public health strategy to reduce the spread of a disease has now become a connotative meaning.