negative

Less common meanings

11. 11
    blood typeadjective

    Of blood or a blood group: without the Rhesus (Rh) factor on its red cells.

    The hospital is asking for donors with O negative blood after the highway crash.

    Because the mother is Rh negative, her doctors are watching the pregnancy closely.

    UsageComes after the group: O negative, Rh negative. Before a noun it is usually hyphenated: an Rh-negative mother.

    Oppositepositive

    Note

    Keep it apart from the test-result meaning: Rh negative is a lasting blood type, the absence of the RhD antigen on the red cells, not news that an infection was not found.

12. 12
    no (radio)interjection

    Used as a reply meaning no, especially in radio, military, and formal procedural exchanges.

    "Negative," the pilot replied, "we are not cleared for landing."

    When asked whether he agreed, the officer simply said, "Negative."

    UsageStands alone as a full reply, often followed by the listener's name or a short report: Negative, the road is clear.

    Similarno

    Oppositeaffirmative, yes

13. 13
    study findingadjective

    Showing features that fail to support a hypothesis or confirm a tested condition.

    The trial produced negative results, undermining the proposed link.

    The trial produced negative results: patients on the new drug did no better than those given a placebo.

    Oppositepositive

14. 14
    nouncountable

    A word that expresses negation, such as 'no', 'not', or 'never'.

    The word 'never' acts as a negative, denying that the event takes place.

    Some languages allow several negatives in one clause without their meanings canceling out.

    UsageCommon in a double negative, meaning two negatives in one clause.

    Note

    Letitia Elizabeth Landon plays on it in Francesca Carrara (1834). She describes a woman "whom negatives seem invented to describe": someone best summed up by what she is not, who is not even worth "one single bad quality."

15. 15
    adjective

    Describing a photographic image in which light and dark are reversed and colors appear as their complements.

    In the negative image, the white church showed up as a dark shape against a pale sky.

    Scanning the negative frame restores the picture's true colors.

    Similarinverted, reversed

    Oppositepositive

16. 16
    turn downverbtransitive

    To refuse or reject something, such as a proposal or a motion.

    Parliament negatived the bill on its second reading.

    If the members negative the motion, it cannot be raised again in the same session.

    UsageIts forms keep this spelling: negatived, negativing. The object is usually a bill, motion or proposal.

    Similarreject, defeat, veto, refuse

    Oppositeapprove, pass, accept

    Note

    Here it means to turn something down, as in L. T. Meade's The Palace Beautiful (1887): "this the good lady negatived with horror." Melville uses it of declining a proposition in Billy Budd.

17. 17
    contradictverbtransitive

    To contradict a statement or claim, or to show that it is false.

    The new evidence negatived his alibi completely.

    Once the defendant raises self-defense, the prosecution must negative it beyond a reasonable doubt.

18. 18
    cancel outverbtransitive

    To make something ineffective; to neutralize or cancel out its effect.

    The court's decision negatived the previous agreement entirely.

    A carefully drafted exclusion clause can negative the warranty that the law would otherwise imply into a sale.

    UsageOften passive and with entirely: can be entirely negatived. Negate is the more common word for this.

    Similarnegate, nullify, neutralize, cancel, offset

    Note

    In Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians (1918), a minister's intentions "can be entirely negatived" by his own sub-departments. T. F. Cameron's "New Works Procedure" in Railway Magazine (1945) uses the same pairing. In both, an effort is undone by something outside it.

19. 19
    weightliftingnouncountable

    A repetition in which the muscle starts fully contracted and is slowly lengthened under load, using only the lowering phase of the movement.

    Controlled negatives can build strength faster than lifting alone.

    After his final set, he did one extra negative, lowering the bar for a slow count of five.

    UsageLifters do negatives or a slow negative; the technical word for this lowering phase is eccentric.

    Similareccentric

20. 20
    refusalnouncountable

    A refusal to give consent, especially one that blocks or forbids something, as a veto does.

    Some delegates wanted Congress to hold a negative over state laws, but the proposal was voted down.

    When the question was put, a clear majority voted in the negative, and the amendment fell.

    UsageToday mostly in answer in the negative or vote in the negative, meaning say or vote no.

    Similarveto, refusal, rejection

    Note

    Carlyle's abbot in Past and Present (1843) dislikes a bishop's request but "could not however give it a negative." Fielding uses the same turn in Tom Jones (1749), of a supper declined. The same noun can also name a formal right of veto, the power to refuse outright.

21. 21
    adjective

    Less than none, said humorously to stress that there is none at all of something, as in having negative interest in it.

    Sorry, but that theory makes negative sense, since the dates don't even line up.

    With three kids and two jobs, she has negative free time these days.

    UsageA joking overstatement, before a noun: makes negative sense, negative free time, negative interest in something.

    Similarzero

    Note

    The joke works because a below-zero number is plainly impossible here, so the listener hears the exaggeration at once.

22. 22
    noun

    The plate carrying negative charge in a voltaic or electrolytic cell.
23. 23
    adjective

    Nonmetallic or metalloidal in character; contrasted with positive or basic.