Negative

/ˈnɛɡəʈɪv/ adj, intj, noun, verb, slang

adj, intj, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Middle school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: Refusal or withholding of assents; prohibition, veto
  • Grammar: negative is listed as adj, intj, noun, verb, slang.
  • Nearest alternatives: abjuratory, abnegate, abnegation, abnegative.
  • Useful contrasts: non-negative, plus, positive.
  • Usage evidence: Some people argue that technology has negative effects.

How to use "negative"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "negative" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "negative" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "negative" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "negative" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.

Compare nearby meanings

  • Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
  • Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
  • Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
  • Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.

Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "negative" is acting as adj, intj, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "abjuratory" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.

Final meaning check

Before publishing a sentence with "negative", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.

When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Refusal or withholding of assents; prohibition, veto

    "“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."

  2. 2
    a piece of photographic film showing an image with light and shade or colors reversed wordnet
  3. 3
    An unfavorable point or characteristic.
  4. 4
    a reply of denial wordnet
  5. 5
    A right of veto.

    "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."

Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    An image in which dark areas represent light ones, and the converse.
  2. 7
    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.""

  3. 8
    A negative quantity.
  4. 9
    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.
  5. 10
    The negative plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell.
  6. 11
    A statement that something didn’t happen or doesn’t exist.

    "You can’t prove a negative."

Verb
  1. 1
    To refuse; to veto. transitive

    "Poppy earnestly begged to be allowed to go with Jasmine on the roof, but this the good lady negatived with horror."

  2. 2
    vote against; refuse to endorse; refuse to assent wordnet
  3. 3
    To contradict. transitive

    ""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."

  4. 4
    To disprove. transitive

    "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."

  5. 5
    To make ineffective; to neutralize; to negate. transitive

    ""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.""

Adjective
  1. 1
    Not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable.

    "The high exchange rate will have a negative effect on our profits."

  2. 2
    Of a number: less than zero.
  3. 3
    Of a number: less than zero.; Less than zero degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit.

    "I was out in negative weather today."

  4. 4
    Of a test result: not positive, not detected.

    "negative detection of."

  5. 5
    Of electrical charge of an electron and related particles
Show 9 more definitions
  1. 6
    Denying a proposition; negating a concept.
  2. 7
    Pessimistic; not tending to see the bright side of things. often

    "I don’t like to hang around him very much because he can be so negative about his petty problems."

  3. 8
    Of or relating to a photographic image in which the colours of the original, and the relations of left and right, are reversed.
  4. 9
    Metalloidal, nonmetallic; contrasted with positive or basic.

    "The nitro group is negative."

  5. 10
    Often preceded by emotion, energy, feeling, or thought: to be avoided, bad, difficult, disagreeable, painful, potentially damaging, unpleasant, unwanted. New-Age, derogatory, jargon

    "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)."

  6. 11
    Characterized by the presence of features which do not support a hypothesis.
  7. 12
    HIV negative. slang

    "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."

  8. 13
    COVID-19 negative. slang
  9. 14
    No, not any, zero. excessive

    "The negative contact we get inside here [prison] is enough to make you even more bitter and further alienated from society and ourselves."

Adjective
  1. 1
    involving disadvantage or harm wordnet
  2. 2
    expressing or consisting of a negation or refusal or denial wordnet
  3. 3
    having a negative charge wordnet
  4. 4
    designed or tending to discredit, especially without positive or helpful suggestions wordnet
  5. 5
    having the quality of something harmful or unpleasant wordnet
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    characterized by or displaying negation or denial or opposition or resistance; having no positive features wordnet
  2. 7
    less than zero wordnet
  3. 8
    reckoned in a direction opposite to that regarded as positive wordnet
  4. 9
    not indicating the presence of microorganisms or disease or a specific condition wordnet
Intj
  1. 1
    No; nay.

    ""Negative Marcel. No IOC. Patient has been drinking heavily, we can give him nothing for pain.""

Synonyms

All synonyms
abjuratoryabnegateabnegationabnegativeabolishabrogate

Antonyms

non-negativepluspositiveabsolute displacement magnitude

Example

"Some people argue that technology has negative effects."

Common questions

What does "negative" mean?

Refusal or withholding of assents; prohibition, veto

What is a synonym for "negative"?

Common synonyms include: abjuratory, abnegate, abnegation, abnegative, abolish, abrogate.

How do you use "negative" in a sentence?

Some people argue that technology has negative effects.

How do you pronounce "negative"?

Pronounced /ˈnɛɡəʈɪv/.

Etymology

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

More for "negative"

Synonyms

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