Dictionary

negative en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈnɛɡ.ə.tɪv/
• (Southern-England) audio
• [-ɾɪv] t-flapping

Etymology

From Middle English negative, negatif, from Old French negatif, from Latin negātīvus (“that denies, negative”), from negāre (“to deny”); see negate.

Meanings

1. Not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable.
   • The high exchange rate will have a negative effect on our profits.
   • Customers didn’t like it: feedback was mostly negative.
2. Of a number: less than zero.
3. Of a number: less than zero. ▸ Less than zero degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit.
   • I was out in negative weather today.
4. Of a test result: not positive, not detected.
   • negative detection of.
5. Of electrical charge of an electron and related particles
6. Denying a proposition; negating a concept.
   • Marx had said that the negative freedom of the liberal bourgeois tradition would have no place in socialist society, as it only expressed the antagonistic character of society. 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 417:
7. (often, used pejoratively) Pessimistic; not tending to see the bright side of things.
   • I don’t like to hang around him very much because he can be so negative about his petty problems.
8. Of or relating to a photographic image in which the colours of the original, and the relations of left and right, are reversed.
9. Metalloidal, nonmetallic; contrasted with positive or basic.
   • The nitro group is negative.
10. (New-Age, derogatory, jargon) Often preceded by emotion, energy, feeling, or thought: to be avoided, bad, difficult, disagreeable, painful, potentially damaging, unpleasant, unwanted.
    • If you have been badly affected by negative energy a salt bath is wonderful for clearing and cleansing yourself... Salt attracts negative energy and will draw it away from you. 2011, Anne Jones, Healing Negative Energies, Hachette, page 118:
    • Negative feelings can be worked through and their energy converted into positive energy... In crisis, normal patterns of self-organization fail, resulting in anxiety (negative energy). 2009, Christopher Johns, Becoming a Reflective Practitioner, John Wiley & Sons, page 15:
    • 2011, Joe Vitale, The Key: the missing secret for attracting anything you want, Body, Mind & Spirit, http://books.google.com.au/books?id=hf5qEW9n_fsC&pg=PT109&dq=positive+feelings&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MkX-T8PQCo6KmQXjr4GhBQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=unwanted%20feelings&f=false The threat of negative feelings may seem very real, but they are nothing more than mirages... Allow the unwanted feelings to evaporate and dissolve as the mirages that they are.
11. Characterized by the presence of features which do not support a hypothesis.
12. (slang) HIV negative.
    • We certainly told him at that time that I was negative. We talked about transmission. We told him we don't do anything that would cause me to become positive. quoted in 2013, William I. Johnston, HIV-Negative: How the Uninfected Are Affected by AIDS (page 145)
13. (slang) COVID-19 negative.
14. (excessive) No, not any, zero.
    • The hell? I wish I could follow you on that, but it makes negative sense. 2002 September 7, Jef, “MST3K DVD Collection One”, in rec.arts.tv.mst3k.misc (Usenet):
    • The negative contact we get inside here [prison] is enough to make you even more bitter and further alienated from society and ourselves. 1982 August 14, Renee Holmes, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 5, page 15:

Forms

Antonyms

well · marvelous · beatific · bodacious · positive · excellent · amazing · stellar · pleasing · wicked · exceptional · not bad · bona · magnificent · divine · decent · tubular · neat · blissful · cool · nice · goated · agreeable · affirmative · sweet · enjoyable · perfect · intensive · stupendous · super · all right · terrific · bene · fantastic · brilliant · outstanding · nonnegative · gratifying · wonderful · sweet as a nut · good as wheat in the bin · wondrous · goloptious · awesome · positive · positive · phenomenal · commendable · satisfying · fabulous · rad · right as rain · superb · lovely · heavenly · incredible · splendid · intensifying · celestial · solid · intensitive · pleasant · acceptable · good · heavenlike · delightful · radical · positive · nonnegative · fine · as fine as Dick's hatband · dandy as candy · positive · great

Deriveds

non-negative · HIV-negative · negative lookbehind · task-negative · negative ice · Rh negative · negative clause · negativate · negatrip · Gram-negative · negative Ned · negative cutter · negative pickup · negative Nancy · negative polarity item · negative majority · negative-painted · negatome · negative income tax · negativist · Rhesus negative · negative logic · negative indexing · negative parliamentarism · negative atheist · carbon negative · negative gearing · negative raising · negative verb · negativize · negativistic · electronegative · geonegative · negative growth · polynegative · negative binomial distribution · negative edge · negative space · negative pole · negative reinforcement · negativization · negative zero · negative lookahead · immunonegative · negative side waterproofing · negative utilitarianism · negative transfer · negative energy · body negative · uninegative · negative interest · negative feedback · negative number · seronegative · negative harmony · RhD negative · negative eugenics · negative-edge-triggered · negative option · photonegative · negative pregnant · negative cost · binegative · negativity · socionegative · negative sense · sex-negative · go negative · negative bath · negative pressure · pseudonegative · hypernegative · negative proof · negative repetition · vironegative · negative deficit · negamile · negentropy · negative split · negative pion · negatively · negative theology · negative utilitarian · negativeness · negative Nelly · negative pledge · negative priming · negative-sum · homonegative · gram-negative · negative painting · negative resolution · negative equity · triple-negative · negative edge-triggered · negative capability · negative lookaround · negative entry · negative crystal · orphaned negative · A negative · negative hallucination · negative training

Hypernyms

nonpositive · nonzero · nonzero · nonpositive

Relateds

negatory · negate · negation · negativism

Synonyms

subpar · unfavorable · horrid · atrocious · coarse · bad · foul · abysmal · negatory · shitawful · naff · horrible · negative · dire · hideous · sloppy · shitty · inadequate · disagreeable · pathetic · terrible · miserable · corny · peak · horrendous · lousy · fourth-rate · dogshit · chronic · ordinary · loathsome · deityforsaken · horrific · inelegant · rotten · hellish · dreadful · crappy · lackluster · hopeless · sixth-rate · crap · dismal · wack · awful · godawful · intolerable · odious · undesirable · rubbish · crummy · bad · piss-poor · fifth-rate · inferior · incompetent · crapalicious

Translations (147)

sk negatívny (mathematics: less than zero) · bg отрицателен (of electrical charge) · ru отрица́тельный (mathematics: less than zero) · he שלילי (of electrical charge) · bg отрица́телен (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · nl negatie (linguistics: denying a proposition) · pl negatywny (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · cs záporný (of electrical charge) · ar سَلْبِيّ (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · bg отрицателен (mathematics: less than zero) · sk negatívny (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · da negativ (mathematics: less than zero) · de negativ (mathematics: less than zero) · sv negativ (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · kk негативті (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · fi negatiivinen (mathematics: less than zero) · ja 否定の (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · be адмо́ўны (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · fi negatiivinen (New Age jargon) · ga diúltach (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · pt negativo (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · is neikvæður (of electrical charge) · es negativo (of electrical charge) · bg негати́вен (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · fi negatiivinen (chemistry: metalloidal; nonmetallic) · nl negatief (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · ru отрица́тельный (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · ca negatiu (of electrical charge) · it negativo (of electrical charge) · az neqativ (of or relating to a photographic image in which the colours and relations are reversed) · el αρνητικός (linguistics: denying a proposition) · pl negatywowy (of or relating to a photographic image in which the colours and relations are reversed) · ca negatiu (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · no negativ (of electrical charge) · he שלילי (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · tr menfi (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · th ลบ (mathematics: less than zero) · ca estrictament negatiu (mathematics: less than zero) · sv negativ (mathematics: less than zero) · fi kieltävä (linguistics: denying a proposition) · vi âm (of electrical charge) · uk від'є́мний (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · fi kielteinen (pessimistic) · nl negatief (mathematics: less than zero) · es negación (linguistics: denying a proposition) · hy ժխտական (linguistics: denying a proposition) · mi tōraro (of electrical charge) · ka ნეგატიური (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · az mənfi (mathematics: less than zero) · fi kielteinen (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · eu ezkor (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · ja 否定的な (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · bg негативен (of or relating to a photographic image in which the colours and relations are reversed) · ar سَلْبِيّ (pessimistic) · fr strictement négatif (mathematics: less than zero) · de negativ (of electrical charge) · pt negativo (of electrical charge) · fi negatiivinen (pessimistic) · nl ontkenning (linguistics: denying a proposition) · cy negyddol (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · de negativ (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · nl ontkennende vorm (linguistics: denying a proposition) · fi pessimistinen (pessimistic) · hy բացասական (mathematics: less than zero) · ka უარყოფითი (linguistics: denying a proposition) · grc ἀρνητικός (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · pl negatywny (pessimistic) · he שלילית (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · ar مَنْفِيّ (linguistics: denying a proposition) · ko 소극적인 (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · ko 음 (mathematics: less than zero) · fi kielteinen (linguistics: denying a proposition) · uk негати́вний (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · te ఋణాత్మక (of electrical charge) · pl ujemny (of electrical charge) · cmn 消極 /消极 (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · vi tiêu cực (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · sk záporný (of electrical charge) · be нэгаты́ўны (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · cmn 否定的 (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · ca negatiu (mathematics: less than zero) · pl negatywny (linguistics: denying a proposition) · is negatífur (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · sk záporný (mathematics: less than zero) · sk negatívny (of or relating to a photographic image in which the colours and relations are reversed) · it negativo (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · ar سَلْبِيّ (of electrical charge) · ru негати́вный (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · ka უარყოფითი (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · tr eksi (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · ar سَالِب (of electrical charge) · gl negativo (of electrical charge) · fi negatiivinen (of electrical charge) · bho नकारात्मक (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · az mənfi (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · az inkar (linguistics: denying a proposition) · cmn 負 /负 (mathematics: less than zero) · nl min (mathematics: less than zero) · sk negatívny (pessimistic) · es negativo (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · hu negatív (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · vi phủ định (linguistics: denying a proposition) · ar سَالِب (chemistry: metalloidal; nonmetallic) · fi negatiivinen (of or relating to a photographic image in which the colours and relations are reversed) · pt negativo (mathematics: less than zero) · sv negativ (of electrical charge) · is neikvæður (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · eo negativa (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · pl ujemny (mathematics: less than zero) · ru отрица́тельный (of electrical charge) · fr négatif (linguistics: denying a proposition) · es negativo (mathematics: less than zero) · da negativ (pessimistic) · no negativ (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · vi âm (mathematics: less than zero) · pl ujemny (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · ga diúltach (of electrical charge) · tr negatif (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · nl negatief (of electrical charge) · hy բացասական (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · eu negatibo (mathematics: less than zero) · tl baling (mathematics: less than zero) · he שלילית (of electrical charge) · ka უარყოფითი (mathematics: less than zero) · fr négatif (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · hi नकारात्मक (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · fr négatif (of electrical charge) · el αρνητικός (mathematics: less than zero) · ja 負 (mathematics: less than zero) · hy ժխտական (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · da negativ (of electrical charge) · az mənfi (of electrical charge) · fa منفی (mathematics: less than zero) · gl negativo (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · hu negatív (of electrical charge) · kk негативтік (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · cs negativní (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · grc ἀρνητικός (linguistics: denying a proposition) · tr olumsuz (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · hy բացասական (of electrical charge) · fi negatiivinen (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · pt negativo (linguistics: denying a proposition) · az neqativ (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · cs záporný (mathematics: less than zero) · ar سَالِب (of or relating to a photographic image in which the colours and relations are reversed) · sk záporný (not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable) · ka უარყოფითი (of electrical charge)

negative en · INTJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈnɛɡ.ə.tɪv/
• (Southern-England) audio
• [-ɾɪv] t-flapping

Etymology

From Middle English negative, negatif, from Old French negatif, from Latin negātīvus (“that denies, negative”), from negāre (“to deny”); see negate.

Meanings

1. No; nay.
   • "Negative Marcel. No IOC. Patient has been drinking heavily, we can give him nothing for pain." 1980, Richard Louis Newmann, Siege of Orbitor, page xxiv. 93:

Forms

Antonyms

affirmative

negative en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈnɛɡ.ə.tɪv/
• (Southern-England) audio
• [-ɾɪv] t-flapping

Etymology

From Middle English negative, negatif, from Old French negatif, from Latin negātīvus (“that denies, negative”), from negāre (“to deny”); see negate.

Meanings

1. Refusal or withholding of assents; prohibition, veto
   • Geoffrey Riddell Bishop of Ely […] made a request of him for timber from his woods towards certain edifices going on at Glemsford. The Abbot, a great builder himself, disliked the request; could not however give it a negative. 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. XV, Practical — Devotional”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):
   • “Upon my word, I can’t eat a morsel,” answered the lady […] There is indeed in perfect beauty a power which none almost can withstand; for my landlady, though she was not pleased at the negative given to the supper, declared she had never seen so lovely a creature. 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
2. An unfavorable point or characteristic.
3. A right of veto.
   • The qualified negative of the President differs widely from this absolute negative of the British sovereign; […] 1788, Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, no. 68
   • And as to the Constitutionality of laws, that point will come before the Judges in their proper official character. In this character they have a negative on the laws. 1787, Luther Martin, cited in The Constitutional Convention Of 1787: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia Of America's Founding (2005), Volume 1, page 391
   • 1983, INS v. Chadha, Opinion of the Court In the convention there does not seem to have been much diversity of opinion on the subject of the propriety of giving to the president a negative on the laws.
4. An image in which dark areas represent light ones, and the converse.
5. A word that indicates negation.
   • "Why, she is one of those persons whom negatives seem invented to describe—I doubt whether she is worth one single bad quality." 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 191:
6. A negative quantity.
7. A repetition performed with a weight in which the muscle begins at maximum contraction and is slowly extended; a movement performed using only the eccentric phase of muscle movement.
8. The negative plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell.
9. A statement that something didn’t happen or doesn’t exist.
   • You can’t prove a negative.

Forms

Antonyms

positive

Coordinates

diapositive

Deriveds

double negative · neg-raising · stereonegative · internegative · connegative · multinegative · false negative · negatival

Translations (53)

fr négatif (photography) · it negativa (photography) · pt negativo (mathematics: negative quantity) · ga diúltach (grammar: word that indicates negation) · mi tūwhakakāhore (grammar: word that indicates negation) · ja ネガフィルム (photography) · fi veto (refusal or withholding of assent; veto, prohibition) · de Negativ (photography) · bg вето (refusal or withholding of assent; veto, prohibition) · he נגטיב (photography) · fi negatiivinen luku (mathematics: negative quantity) · tr olumsuz (grammar: word that indicates negation) · sk negatív (photography) · bg негатив (photography) · pl negatyw (photography) · es negativo (mathematics: negative quantity) · fi veto-oikeus (legal: right of veto) · cmn 负 (mathematics: negative quantity) · cs negativ (photography) · pl zaprzeczenie (grammar: word that indicates negation) · de Negativfilm (photography) · ru отрица́тельная величина́ (mathematics: negative quantity) · fi nega (photography) · ru негати́в (photography) · fi kieltosana (grammar: word that indicates negation) · ja うちけし (grammar: word that indicates negation) · hu negatív (photography) · fi kielto (refusal or withholding of assent; veto, prohibition) · sv negativ (photography) · pt negativa (photography) · fi negatiivinen suure (mathematics: negative quantity) · bg вето (legal: right of veto) · it negativo (mathematics: negative quantity) · fi negatiivi (photography) · sk negácia (grammar: word that indicates negation) · es negativo (photography) · fi vastustus (refusal or withholding of assent; veto, prohibition) · ja 陰画 (photography) · bg забрана (refusal or withholding of assent; veto, prohibition) · tr negatif (photography) · he שלילי (mathematics: negative quantity) · it negativo (photography) · ar صُورَة سَالِبَة (photography) · bg отрицание (grammar: word that indicates negation) · it negativa (grammar: word that indicates negation) · fr film négatif (photography) · he תשליל (photography) · ga claonchló (photography) · cmn 底片 (photography) · id negatif (photography) · el αρνητικό (photography) · ru отрица́ние (grammar: word that indicates negation) · sk zápor (grammar: word that indicates negation)

negative en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈnɛɡ.ə.tɪv/
• (Southern-England) audio
• [-ɾɪv] t-flapping

Etymology

From Middle English negative, negatif, from Old French negatif, from Latin negātīvus (“that denies, negative”), from negāre (“to deny”); see negate.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To refuse; to veto.
   • Poppy earnestly begged to be allowed to go with Jasmine on the roof, but this the good lady negatived with horror. 1887, L. T. Meade, chapter XVIII, in The Palace Beautiful: A Story for Girls:
   • "Never mind," said Cripps, "the dinner will set you right." The curate, foreboding the worst, followed them to the Sign of the Sixpence, where he had sufficient presence of mind to negative Cripps's order of steak-and-kidney pudding for three, and substitute a humble request for roast mutton. 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 64:
   • And being of warm blood he had not the phlegm tacitly to negative any proposition by unresponsive inaction. 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 12, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:
2. (transitive) To contradict.
   • "A comely maid, that," said the other. "True, comely enough. But unless I make a great mistake—" And he negatived the remainder of the definition forthwith. 1892, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXXIII, in Tess of the d'Urbervilles:
3. (transitive) To disprove.
   • At one time an idea got abroad that the whole tale of her fortune had been a myth; […] but the boastings of various servants who declared they had seen her with “rolls on rolls” of banknotes […] negatived the truth of this statement. 1882, J. H. Riddell, “Old Mrs Jones”, in The Collected Ghost Stories of Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Dover, published 1977, page 192:
   • "However, the fact that they need crystals negatives that idea...we must seek a material explanation." 1957, Sydney J. Bounds, The Robot Brains, London: Digit Books, page 62:
4. (transitive) To make ineffective; to neutralize; to negate.
   • Yet he made his largesse daily more lavish, as he saw the king negativing his efforts by taking care of the orphans and showing his remorse for the murder of his sons by his tenderness towards their little ones. 1959, Flavius Josephus, chapter 5, in G. A. Williamson, transl., The Jewish War, Penguin, published 1970, page 98:
   • While the diesel-hydraulic system has been failing to live up to its early promise, development in other directions has negatived some of the advantages which prompted its trial. 1963 January, G. Freeman Allen, “Why B.R. are dropping high-power diesel-hydraulics”, in Modern Railways, page 25:
   • "The War Office," said Miss Nightingale, "is a very slow office, an enormously expensive office, and one in which the Minister's intentions can be entirely negatived by all his sub-departments, and those of each of the sub-departments by every other." 1918 May 9, Lytton Strachey, “[Florence Nightingale.] Chapter III”, in Eminent Victorians: Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Arnold, General Gordon (Library of English Literature; LEL 11347), London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 162:
   • He was coatless and his thumbs were hooked negligently in a leather belt, thereby negativing a tendency to balance himself on an inclined plane backwards. 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 62:
   • In the nature of things, much railway capital expenditure on stations and depots was in the immediate vicinity, if not in the heart, of towns, and extensions or remodellings, apart from being extremely costly, may be entirely negatived by the impossibility of securing the necessary land. 1945 March and April, T. F. Cameron, “New Works Procedure”, in Railway Magazine, page 71:

Forms

Deriveds

negativer · negativation