# positive

Pronunciation: US say "PAH-zi-tiv" /ˈpɑzɪtɪv/; UK say "POZ-i-tiv" /ˈpɒzɨtɪv/

## Adjective

1. Good or helpful in effect; tending to improve things or to promote health and well-being.
   - Simple: Good, helpful, or making things better.
   - _Regular feedback had a positive effect on the students' progress._
   - _The new policy brought positive change to the neighborhood._
2. Expressing approval or a favorable opinion, as a review, reaction, or report does.
   - Simple: Showing that someone likes or approves of something.
   - _The film received a positive review from most critics._
   - _Customer feedback this quarter has been overwhelmingly positive._
3. Tending to expect good outcomes; optimistic in outlook.
   - Simple: Hopeful and expecting good things to happen.
   - _Despite the setbacks, he remained positive about the project's future._
   - _A positive outlook helped her get through the long recovery._
4. Completely certain in one's opinion or belief.
   - Simple: Very sure about something.
   - _She was positive that she had met him somewhere before._
   - _He sounded positive about the date, though the rest of us had doubts._
7. Greater than zero.
   - Simple: Larger than zero.
   - _The equation has two positive roots._
   - _Multiplying two negative numbers always gives a positive result, so negative three times negative four is twelve._
8. Of a test, result or piece of evidence, showing what was being looked for and so confirming or supporting a hypothesis.
   - Simple: Showing that the thing being tested for is there, or giving support to an idea.
   - _The biopsy was positive, confirming the doctors' suspicions._
   - _A positive result on the screening prompted further tests._
11. Of blood or a person: carrying the Rhesus (Rh) factor on the red blood cells; used after the letter of the blood group, as in 'B positive.'
   - Simple: Of blood or a person: having the Rh factor, said after the blood type letter, as in 'O positive.'
   - _Tests confirmed that the baby's blood was O positive, the same as her father's._
   - _Because he is AB positive, the transfusion team had several matching units ready within minutes._
9. Having or relating to electric charge of the kind a proton carries, as an atom or ion with more protons than electrons does.
   - Simple: Having an electric charge that pulls negative charges toward it.
   - _Sodium forms a positive ion by losing a single electron._
   - _Protons carry a positive charge inside the nucleus._
10. Having tested positive for HIV; carrying the human immunodeficiency virus. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Having HIV, the virus that attacks the immune system.
   - _Thanks to modern HIV treatment, many people who are positive now live long, healthy lives._
   - _Many who are positive now live long, healthy lives._
12. Stated firmly and definitively, without qualification or reservation.
   - Simple: Said clearly and firmly, with no doubt.
   - _She gave a positive denial of the rumors._
   - _Before leaving, the owner gave positive instructions that no one was to enter his study._
13. Marked by affirmation; affirming or asserting rather than denying.
   - Simple: Saying yes to something rather than saying no.
   - _The contract requires a positive confirmation from both parties._
   - _Most members gave a positive answer to the proposal, so it passed._
16. Of a photograph, slide or other image, showing light, shade and color as they are in the original, not reversed as in a negative.
   - Simple: Of a picture, showing light, shade, and color just as they really are.
   - _A positive transparency displays the scene in its true tones._
   - _The lab produced a positive print from the developed negative._
17. Actual, real, and concrete; based on fact rather than theory or speculation.
   - Simple: Real and actual, based on facts rather than ideas or guesses.
   - _The detective demanded positive evidence rather than mere conjecture._
   - _We have no positive knowledge of what happened to the ship after it left port, only rumors and guesses._
18. Defined by the presence of distinguishing features or qualities, not by their absence.
   - Simple: Defined by real features that are there, not by things that are missing.
   - _Physicists treat cold not as a positive quality but simply as the absence of heat._
   - _A positive definition lists the traits a thing has rather than the ones it lacks._
20. Of an adjective, adverb or noun, being in its plain base form rather than a comparative, superlative, augmentative or diminutive one.
   - Simple: Describing the basic form of an adjective or adverb, not the form that means more or most.
   - _In grammar, 'small' is the positive form, contrasted with 'smaller' and 'smallest'._
   - _Most dictionaries cite adjectives in their positive form._
21. Used before a noun for emphasis, meaning complete or downright, whether the thing named is good or bad (a positive nuisance, a positive joy).
   - Simple: Complete or total, used to make a word stronger (a positive disaster).
   - _The opening night was a positive disaster from start to finish._
   - _He's a positive genius at fixing old engines._
22. Too sure of being right: so certain as to be dogmatic and unwilling to consider any doubt, used disapprovingly.
   - Simple: Too sure that you are right, even when you might be wrong.
   - _He was so positive in his opinions that he never listened to anyone who disagreed with him._
   - _My uncle is positive on every subject, from politics to cooking, and has never once admitted he might be wrong._
23. Formally laid down by explicit enactment or authority, rather than arising from custom or moral principle.
   - Simple: Made and set officially by those in charge, not coming from custom or nature.
   - _Positive law derives its authority from official enactment, not tradition._
   - _Unlike the village's old customs, the new building code was positive law, passed by the council and enforced by its inspectors._
24. Of an element, electropositive; tending to lose electrons and form positive ions, as metals characteristically do.
   - Simple: Of an element, tending to form a positive charge, as metals do.
   - _The alkali metals are strongly positive, readily losing their outer electron._
   - _Highly positive metals react vigorously with water, releasing hydrogen._

## Noun

5. A test result indicating that the substance or condition tested for is present.
   - Simple: A test result that says the thing being tested for was found.
   - _The lab reported a positive for influenza._
   - _Two positives turned up in the morning batch of tests._
6. A favorable point or feature of something.
   - Simple: A good point about something.
   - _One big positive of the job is the flexible schedule._
   - _Let's focus on the positives instead of dwelling on the problems._
14. Something having a positive value in physics, especially a positive electric charge.
   - Simple: A thing in physics that has a value above zero, such as a positive electric charge.
   - _The field lines point away from a positive and toward a negative._
   - _Like charges repel, so two positives push away from each other._
15. An image displaying true colors and shades rather than their opposites or complements; the counterpart of a negative.
   - Simple: A photo or image that shows colors and shades just as they really are.
   - _The photographer compared each positive against the original scene._
   - _Printing a positive from the negative turned the inverted tones back to normal._
19. In grammar, the basic degree of an adjective or adverb, or a word in that degree, as opposed to the comparative and superlative (big, not bigger or biggest).
   - Simple: In grammar, the plain form of an adjective or adverb, like 'big', not 'bigger' or 'biggest'.
   - _'Brave' stands as the positive, with 'braver' and 'bravest' as its other degrees._
   - _Most dictionaries list an adjective under its positive, which is why 'happy' gets an entry and 'happier' usually does not._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Of a number or quantity, greater than or equal to zero.
- (adjective) Of metals, bases, and basic radicals, basic or metallic in character rather than acidic; opposed to negative.
- (adjective) Belonging to a thing in itself, not dependent on changing circumstances or relations to other things.
- (noun) Something that can be affirmed; a real or actual thing, as opposed to a negation or denial.
- (adjective) Of a verb form, not made negative, especially in languages such as Finnish that use separate verb forms for affirming and denying.
- (noun) The electrode marked plus in a battery or in a cell used for electrolysis.

## Origin

Latin ponere ("to place") has a past participle stem that gave Latin positivus, and the word reached English through Old French positif.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/positive (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).