The phrase "acquired connotations" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing the meanings or associations that a word or phrase has developed over time.
Example: "The term 'home' has acquired connotations of warmth and safety in modern society."
Alternatives: "gained meanings" or "developed associations".
Interestingly, while a biosphere is normally used to describe a self-contained system, acquiring connotations similar to the community term, there is little evidence to suggest that these collections of rare bacteria are self-contained.
She's right to complain, since the term has acquired pejorative connotations after years of abuse by dubious practitioners.
The word saloon, originally meant to lend tone to drinking places, had acquired unsavory connotations by the time of Prohibition.
He blithely asserts that "we certainly should not fear our own national flag", without displaying any interest in how such symbols have acquired intimidating connotations in certain contexts.
From about 450 bc onward, dithyrambic poets such as Timotheus, Melanippides, Cinesias, and Philoxenus employed ever more startling devices of language and music until for ancient literary critics dithyrambic acquired the connotations of "turgid" and "bombastic".
A 13th-century word meaning a female infant or a young unmarried woman quickly acquired negative connotations: from the late 14th century, in Langland and Chaucer it is used to mean "a wanton woman; a mistress".
As an artist, however, Sister Adele is something of a contradiction because she paints abstractions in the ancient medium of fresco on cement, which was discovered by the Romans but has since acquired industrial connotations.
In that interview, with a department employee listening in, she explained that the root of the word intifada meant "shaking off," but that it had acquired other connotations because of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle.
"The term 'nativism,'" he writes, "has acquired pejorative connotations among denationalized elites on the assumption that it is wrong vigorously to defend one's 'native' culture and identity and to maintain their purity against foreign influences". Of course, where American culture is concerned, "purity" is an exceedingly odd concept.
But lately, moaning has somehow acquired bad connotations.
