negative

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See also négative

Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Latin negativus (“that denies, negative”), from negare (“to deny”); see negate.

Pronunciation [edit]

Adjective [edit]

negative (comparative more negative, superlative most negative)

  1. not positive or neutral
  2. (physics) of electrical charge of an electron and related particles [from the 18th c.]
  3. (mathematics) of number, less than zero
  4. (linguistics) (logic) denying a proposition
  5. damaging; undesirable; unfavourable
    • The high exchange rate will have a negative effect on our profits.
      Customers didn't like it: feedback was mostly negative.
  6. pessimistic; not tending to see the bright side of things. (Often used pejoratively.)
    • I don't like to hang around him very much because he can be so negative about his petty problems.
  7. (New Age jargon) (pejorative) bad, unwanted, disagreeable, potentially damaging, to be avoided, unpleasant, difficult, painful; (often precedes 'energy', 'feeling', 'emotion' or 'thought').
    • 2009, Christopher Johns, Becoming a Reflective Practitioner, John Wiley & Sons, p. 15
      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).
    • 2011, Joe Vitale, The Key: the missing secret for attracting anything you want, Body, Mind & Spirit, [1]
      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.
    • 2011, Anne Jones, Healing Negative Energies, Hachette, p. 118
      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.

Synonyms [edit]

Antonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Related terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

not positive or neutral
of electrical charge
mathematics: less than zero
linguistics: denying a proposition
inherently damaging
pessimistic
New Age jargon

Noun [edit]

negative (plural negatives)

  1. refusal or withholding of assents; veto, prohibition [from the 15th c.]
    • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. XV, Practical — Devotional
      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.
  2. (law) a right of veto
    • 1787, Luther Martin, cited in The Constitutional Convention Of 1787: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia Of America's Founding (2005), Volume 1, page 391
      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.
    • 1788, Alexander Hamilton, Federalist no. 68
      The qualified negative of the President differs widely from this absolute negative of the British sovereign; [...]
    • 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.
  3. (photography) an image in which dark areas represent light ones, and the converse [from the 19th c.]
  4. (grammar) a word that indicates negation
  5. (mathematics) a negative quantity
  6. (weightlifting): A rep performed with weight in which the muscle begins at maximum contraction and is slowly extended; a movement performed using only the eccentric phase of muscle movement.

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

refusal or withholding of assent; veto, prohibition
legal: right of veto
photography
grammar: word that indicates negation
mathematics: negative quantity
weightlifting: rep in which the muscle begins at maximum contraction and is slowly extended

Verb [edit]

negative (third-person singular simple present negatives, present participle negativing, simple past and past participle negatived)

  1. To veto
    • L. T. Meade, The Palace Beautiful
      Poppy earnestly begged to be allowed to go with Jasmine on the roof, but this the good lady negatived with horror.
  2. To contradict
  3. To disprove
    • J. H. Riddell, Old Mrs Jones
      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.

Anagrams [edit]

Italian [edit]

Noun [edit]

negative f

  1. Plural form of negativa

Anagrams [edit]

Latin [edit]

Adjective [edit]

negātīve

  1. vocative masculine singular of negātīvus

Swedish [edit]

Adjective [edit]

negative

  1. absolute definite natural masculine form of negativ.
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