English Explanatory Dictionary

negative

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable.
  2. Of a number: less than zero.
  3. Less than zero degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit.
  4. Of a test result: not positive, not detected.
  5. Of electrical charge of an electron and related particles
  6. Denying a proposition; negating a concept.
  7. Pessimistic; not tending to see the bright side of things.
  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.
  10. Often preceded by emotion, energy, feeling, or thought: to be avoided, bad, difficult, disagreeable, painful, potentially damaging, unpleasant, unwanted.
  11. Characterized by the presence of features which do not support a hypothesis.
  12. HIV negative.
noun
  1. Refusal or withholding of assents; prohibition, veto
  2. An unfavorable point or characteristic.
  3. A right of veto.
  4. An image in which dark areas represent light ones, and the converse.
  5. A word that indicates negation.
  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.
verb
  1. To refuse; to veto.
  2. To contradict.
  3. To disprove.
  4. To make ineffective; to neutralize; to negate.
intj
  1. No; nay.

Pronunciation

/ˈnɛɡ.ə.tɪv/ [-ɾɪv] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-negative.wav

Word forms

negative more negative most negative -ve −ve negatives negativing negatived

Etymology

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

Synonyms

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

Antonyms

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

Related words

negate negation negativism negatory

Derived words

A negative binegative body negative carbon negative electronegative geonegative go negative gram-negative HIV-negative homonegative hypernegative immunonegative negamile negativate negative atheist negative bath negative binomial distribution negative capability negative clause negative cost negative crystal negative cutter negative deficit negative edge negative-edge-triggered negative edge-triggered negative energy negative equity negative eugenics negative feedback negative gearing negative growth negative hallucination negative harmony negative ice negative income tax negative indexing negative interest negative logic negative lookahead negative lookaround negative lookbehind negatively negative majority negative Nancy negative Ned negative Nelly negativeness negative number negative option negative-painted negative painting negative pickup negative pion negative pledge negative polarity item negative pole negative pregnant negative pressure negative priming
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