negative

[neg·a·tive]

Negative means focused on what is bad or lacking. A negative ad tells you bad things about the competition. A negative person loves to complain.

...

Denying; implying, containing, or asserting denial, negation or refusal; returning the answer no to an inquiry or request; refusing assent; as, a negative answer; a negative opinion; -- opposed to affirmative.

Noun
a piece of photographic film showing an image with black and white tones reversed

Noun
a reply of denial; "he answered in the negative"

Verb
vote against; refuse to endorse; refuse to assent; "The President vetoed the bill"

Adjective S.
involving disadvantage or harm; "minus (or negative) factors"

Adjective
expressing or consisting of a negation or refusal or denial

...

Adjective S.
reckoned in a direction opposite to that regarded as positive

Adjective S.
designed or tending to discredit, especially without positive or helpful suggestions; "negative criticism"

Adjective S.
having the quality of something harmful or unpleasant; "ran a negative campaign"; "delinquents retarded by their negative outlook on life"

Adjective
characterized by or displaying negation or denial or opposition or resistance; having no positive features; "a negative outlook on life"; "a colorless negative personality"; "a negative evaluation"; "a negative reaction to an advertising campaign"

Adjective S.
less than zero; "a negative number"

Adjective
not indicating the presence of microorganisms or disease or a specific condition; "the HIV test was negative"

Adjective
having a negative electric charge; "electrons are negative"

a.
Denying; implying, containing, or asserting denial, negation or refusal; returning the answer no to an inquiry or request; refusing assent; as, a negative answer; a negative opinion; -- opposed to affirmative.

a.
Not positive; without affirmative statement or demonstration; indirect; consisting in the absence of something; privative; as, a negative argument; a negative morality; negative criticism.

a.
Asserting absence of connection between a subject and a predicate; as, a negative proposition.

a.
Of or pertaining to a picture upon glass or other material, in which the lights and shades of the original, and the relations of right and left, are reversed.

a.
Metalloidal; nonmetallic; -- contracted with positive or basic; as, the nitro group is negative.

n.
A proposition by which something is denied or forbidden; a conception or term formed by prefixing the negative particle to one which is positive; an opposite or contradictory term or conception.

n.
A word used in denial or refusal; as, not, no.

n.
The refusal or withholding of assents; veto.

n.
That side of a question which denies or refuses, or which is taken by an opposing or denying party; the relation or position of denial or opposition; as, the question was decided in the negative.

n.
A picture upon glass or other material, in which the light portions of the original are represented in some opaque material (usually reduced silver), and the dark portions by the uncovered and transparent or semitransparent ground of the picture.

n.
The negative plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell.

v. t.
To prove unreal or intrue; to disprove.

v. t.
To reject by vote; to refuse to enact or sanction; as, the Senate negatived the bill.

v. t.
To neutralize the force of; to counteract.

Negative

Neg"a*tive , a. [F. n'82gatif, L. negativus, fr. negare to deny. See Negation.] 1. Denying; implying, containing, or asserting denial, negation or refusal; returning the answer no to an inquiry or request; refusing assent; as, a negative answer; a negative opinion; -- opposed to affirmative.
If thou wilt confess, Or else be impudently negative.
Denying me any power of a negative voice.
Something between an affirmative bow and a negative shake.
2. Not positive; without affirmative statement or demonstration; indirect; consisting in the absence of something; privative; as, a negative argument; a negative morality; negative criticism.
There in another way of denying Christ, ... which is negative, when we do not acknowledge and confess him.
3. (Logic) Asserting absence of connection between a subject and a predicate; as, a negative proposition. 4. (Photog.) Of or pertaining to a picture upon glass or other material, in which the lights and shades of the original, and the relations of right and left, are reversed. 5. (Chem.) Metalloidal; nonmetallic; -- contracted with positive or basic; as, the nitro group is negative. &hand; This word, derived from electro-negative, is now commonly used in a more general sense, when acidiferous is the intended signification. Negative crystal. (a) A cavity in a mineral mass, having the form of a crystal. (b) A crystal which has the power of negative double refraction. See refraction. -- negative electricity (Elec.), the kind of electricity which is developed upon resin or ebonite when rubbed, or which appears at that pole of a voltaic battery which is connected with the plate most attacked by the exciting liquid; -- formerly called resinous electricity. Opposed to positive electricity. Formerly, according to Franklin's theory of a single electric fluid, negative electricity was supposed to be electricity in a degree below saturation, or the natural amount for a given body. see Electricity. -- Negative eyepiece. (Opt.) see under Eyepiece. -- Negative quantity (Alg.), a quantity preceded by the negative sign, or which stands in the relation indicated by this sign to some other quantity. See Negative sign (below). -- Negative rotation, right-handed rotation. See Right-handed, 3. -- Negative sign, the sign -, or minus (opposed in signification to +, or plus), indicating that the quantity to which it is prefixed is to be subtracted from the preceding quantity, or is to be reckoned from zero or cipher in the opposite direction to that of quanties having the sign plus either expressed or understood; thus, in a - b, b is to be substracted from a, or regarded as opposite to it in value; and -10'f8 on a thermometer means 10'f8 below the zero of the scale.

Negative

Neg"a*tive, n. [Cf. F. n'82gative.] 1. A proposition by which something is denied or forbidden; a conception or term formed by prefixing the negative particle to one which is positive; an opposite or contradictory term or conception.
This is a known rule in divinity, that there is no command that runs in negatives but couches under it a positive duty.
2. A word used in denial or refusal; as, not, no. &hand; In Old England two or more negatives were often joined together for the sake of emphasis, whereas now such expressions are considered ungrammatical, being chiefly heard in iliterate speech. A double negative is now sometimes used as nearly or quite equivalent to an affirmative.
No wine ne drank she, neither white nor red.
These eyes that never did nor never shall So much as frown on you.
3. The refusal or withholding of assents; veto.
If a kind without his kingdom be, in a civil sense, nothing, then ... his negative is as good as nothing.
4. That side of a question which denies or refuses, or which is taken by an opposing or denying party; the relation or position of denial or opposition; as, the question was decided in the negative. 5. (Photog.) A picture upon glass or other material, in which the light portions of the original are represented in some opaque material (usually reduced silver), and the dark portions by the uncovered and transparent or semitransparent ground of the picture. &hand; A negative is chiefly used for producing photographs by means of the sun's light passing through it and acting upon sensitized paper, thus producing on the paper a positive picture. 6. (Elect.) The negative plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell. Negative pregnant (Law), a negation which implies an affirmation.

Negative

Neg"a*tive , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Negatived ; p. pr. & vb. n. Negativing.] 1. To prove unreal or intrue; to disprove.
The omission or infrequency of such recitals does not negative the existence of miracles.
2. To reject by vote; to refuse to enact or sanction; as, the Senate negatived the bill. 3. To neutralize the force of; to counteract.

Denying; implying, containing, or asserting denial, negation or refusal; returning the answer no to an inquiry or request; refusing assent; as, a negative answer; a negative opinion; -- opposed to affirmative.

To prove unreal or intrue; to disprove.

...
Usage Examples

Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.

A complainer is like a Death Eater because there's a suction of negative energy. You can catch a great attitude from great people.

An investigator starts research in a new field with faith, a foggy idea, and a few wild experiments. Eventually the interplay of negative and positive results guides the work. By the time the research is completed, he or she knows how it should have been started and conducted.

A negative judgment gives you more satisfaction than praise, provided it smacks of jealousy.

Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.

A lot of times people look at the negative side of what they feel they can't do. I always look on the positive side of what I can do.

Accent your positive and delete your negative.

Misspelled Form

negative, bnegative, hnegative, jnegative, mnegative, negative, begative, hegative, jegative, megative, egative, nbegative, nhegative, njegative, nmegative, n egative, nwegative, n3egative, n4egative, nregative, nsegative, ndegative, nwgative, n3gative, n4gative, nrgative, nsgative, ndgative, newgative, ne3gative, ne4gative, nergative, nesgative, nedgative, nefgative, netgative, neygative, nehgative, nebgative, nevgative, nefative, netative, neyative, nehative, nebative, nevative, negfative, negtative, negyative, neghative, negbative, negvative, negqative, negwative, negsative, negzative, negqtive, negwtive, negstive, negztive, negaqtive, negawtive, negastive, negaztive, negartive, nega5tive, nega6tive, negaytive, negagtive, negarive, nega5ive, nega6ive, negayive, negagive, negatrive, negat5ive, negat6ive, negatyive, negatgive, negatuive, negat8ive, negat9ive, negatoive, negatjive, negatkive, negatuve, negat8ve, negat9ve, negatove, negatjve, negatkve, negatiuve, negati8ve, negati9ve, negatiove, negatijve, negatikve, negaticve, negatifve, negatigve, negatibve, negati ve, negatice, negatife, negatige, negatibe, negati e, negativce, negativfe, negativge, negativbe, negativ e, negativwe, negativ3e, negativ4e, negativre, negativse, negativde, negativw, negativ3, negativ4, negativr, negativs, negativd, negativew, negative3, negative4, negativer, negatives, negatived.

Other Usage Examples

An external electric field, meeting it and passing through it, affects the negative as much as the positive quanta of the atom, and pushes the former to one side, and the latter in the other direction.

But in fact if you look at film as a metaphor, only through the negative can you have the positive print. What I'm trying to get to is the positive value of negation.

And I'm a believer that you take a negative and turn it into a positive, and as it turned out, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. And so I do appreciate the Ranger staff and the Ranger organization for giving me that opportunity.

But when I first got cancer, after the initial shock and the fear and paranoia and crying and all that goes with cancer - that word means to most people ultimate death - I decided to see what I could do to take that negative and use it in a positive way.

And they said if we help with the crisis, they would do a lot of positive acts. After we helped in those crises, they showed negative acts and the Japanese and Turks were ashamed.

After I became a citizen, I felt freer to say what I thought about this country, both negative and positive. I think I had been, consciously and subconsciously, biting my tongue in the past.

Besides the healthcare bill being unconstitutional and a great expansion of federal government, I think if it does not respect people's individual religious views and makes groups or individuals do things that are contrary to their deeply held beliefs, there is going to be a visceral negative reaction.

Affirmative action has a negative effect on our society when it means counting us like so many beans and dividing us into separate piles.