positive
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: pŏzʹĭ-tĭv
ipa: /ˈpɑzɪtɪv/
ipa: /-ɾɪv/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈpɒzɨtɪv/
rhymes: -ɒzɪtɪv
Forms: form: more positive
form: most positive
form: +ve
Etymology: From Old French positif, from Latin positivus, from the past participle stem of ponere (“to place”). Compare posit.
Senses: glosses: Included, present, characterized by affirmation.
examples: text: In laws, that which is natural bindeth universally; that which is positive, not so.
ref: 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie:
topics: law
glosses: Formally laid down.
examples: text: Positive words, that he would not bear arms against King Edward’s son.
ref: 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:
glosses: Stated definitively and without qualification.
examples: text: I’m absolutely positive you've spelt that wrong.
synonyms: certain
sure
wis
antonyms: uncertain
unsure
glosses: Fully assured in opinion.
topics: mathematics
sciences
antonyms: negative
nonpositive
hypernyms: nonzero
nonnegative
glosses: Greater than zero.
raw_tags: of a number
examples: text: Notice that each time the calculator balance becomes positive (zero or greater), the dollar item that forces this balance to become positive is selected for examination. Since each of these dollar items is contained […]
ref: 1987, Roger H. Hermanson, Robert H. Strawser, Auditing Theory and Practice^(https://books.google.com/books?id=Vh7yAAAAMAAJ&q=%22positive+(zero+or+greater%22&dq=%22positive+(zero+or+greater%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0), 4th edition, Irwin, →ISBN, page 323:
text: a step 10 which judges whether each of the m amounts of differences in amount of voltage changes ΔHv1 to ΔHvm are positive (zero or greater than zero) or negative (less than zero): and […]
ref: 1996 December 10, United States Patent and Trademark Office, “5,583,871: Method for high-speed charging of secondary batteries and apparatus therefor. Stewart N. Simmonds, Port Coquitlam, Canada, and Isamu Miyamoto, Tokyo, Japan, assignors to Datalink Corporation, Tokyo, Japan”, in Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Patents^(https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2wbAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA1528&dq=%22positive+(zero+or+greater%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0#v=onepage&q=%22positive%20(zero%20or%20greater%22&f=false), volume 1193, numbers 1-2, page 1528:
topics: mathematics
sciences
synonyms: nonnegative
antonyms: negative
nonpositive
glosses: Greater than or equal to zero.
raw_tags: of a number
examples: text: Not to conſent to the Enacting of ſuch a Law, which has no view beſide to general Good, unleſs another Law ſhall at the ſame time paſs, with no other view but that of advancing the Power of one Party alone; What is this but to claim a positive Voice as well as a negative?
ref: 1701, [Jonathan Swift], “Chapter I”, in A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome, with the Consequences They Had upon Both Those States, London: […] John Nutt […], →OCLC, page 11:
glosses: Characterized by constructiveness or influence for the better.
examples: text: Some positive, persisting fops we know, That, if once wrong, will needs be always so.
ref: 1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC:
glosses: Overconfident, dogmatic.
examples: text: [I]f the privation be good, it followes not the former condition was evill, but lesse good; for the flower or blossome, is a positive good, although the remove of it to give place to the fruit, be a comparative good.
ref: 1597, Francis [Bacon], “Of the Colours of Good and Evill, a Fragment”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland […], published 1632, →OCLC:
text: 1885, Marcellin Berthelot, Les Origines de l'Alkimie as quoted in M. M. Pattison Muir, A History of Chemical Theories and Laws, 1907.
Chemistry is not a primitive science, like geometry or astronomy; it is constructed from the debris of a previous scientific formation; a formation half chimerical and half positive...
topics: human-sciences
philosophy
sciences
glosses: Actual, real, concrete, not theoretical or speculative.
examples: text: A cation is a positive ion as it has more protons than electrons.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
antonyms: negative
glosses: Having more protons than electrons.
examples: text: ‘Better’ is an irregular comparative of the positive form ‘good’.
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: Describing the primary sense of an adjective, adverb or noun; not comparative, superlative, augmentative nor diminutive.
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: Describing a verb that is not negated, especially in languages which have distinct positive and negative verb forms, e.g., Finnish.
examples: text: The idea of beauty is not positive, but depends on the different tastes of individuals.
text: positive knowledge
synonyms: absolute
glosses: Derived from an object by itself; not dependent on changing circumstances or relations.
examples: text: The box was not empty – I felt some positive substance within it.
text: In other cases of moral alienation there will be found to have been more or less congenital moral defect, with maniacal exacerbations of positive moral insanity occurring perhaps at puberty, perhaps at the menstrual periods, perhaps after severe disappointment.
ref: 1867, Henry Maudsley, The Physiology and Pathology of the Mind, New York: D. Appleton & Company, page 318:
glosses: Characterized by the existence or presence of distinguishing qualities or features, rather than by their absence.
examples: text: The results of our experiment are positive.
glosses: Characterized by the presence of features which support a hypothesis.
examples: text: Ben […], who seems at first to be a likable guy but is actually a positive sexist.
ref: 1986 April 19, Shelley Mains, “TV Shows Dykes as Yuppie "Gay Women"”, in Gay Community News, page 6:
glosses: Confirmed, straight-up.
examples: text: A positive photograph can be developed from a photographic negative.
topics: arts
hobbies
lifestyle
photography
glosses: Of a visual image, true to the original in light, shade and colour values.
examples: text: The first-night reviews were largely positive.
synonyms: word: good
word: acceptable
word: agreeable
word: all right
word: as fine as Dick's hatband
word: awesome
word: bene
word: bodacious
word: bona
word: commendable
word: dandy as candy
word: decent
word: enjoyable
word: excellent
word: exceptional
word: fantastic
word: fine
word: goloptious
word: good as wheat in the bin
word: gratifying
word: great
word: magnificent
word: marvelous
word: nice
word: not bad
word: outstanding
word: perfect
word: phenomenal
word: pleasant
word: pleasing
word: positive
word: rad
word: radical
word: right as rain
word: satisfying
word: splendid
word: stellar
word: stupendous
word: super
word: superb
word: sweet as a nut
word: terrific
word: tubular
word: wonderful
word: wondrous
antonyms: word: bad
word: negative
word: excellent
word: good
word: great
word: positive
word: superior
glosses: Favorable, desirable by those interested or invested in that which is being judged.
examples: text: Good lord, you've built up a positive arsenal of weaponry here.
glosses: Wholly what is expressed; colloquially downright, entire, outright.
examples: text: He has a positive outlook on life.
glosses: Optimistic.
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: electropositive
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: basic; metallic; not acid; opposed to negative, and said of metals, bases, and basic radicals.
examples: text: 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.
ref: quoted in 2013, William I. Johnston, HIV-Negative: How the Uninfected Are Affected by AIDS (page 145)
glosses: HIV positive.
examples: text: positive energy; positive thoughts, feelings or emotions
text: 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). Being open systems, people can exchange this energy with the environment and create positive energy for taking action...
ref: 2009, Christopher Johns, Becoming a Reflective Practitioner, John Wiley & Sons, page 15:
glosses: Good, desirable, healthful, pleasant, enjoyable.
Derived terms: A positive
body-positive
contrapositive
copositive
copropositive
COVID-positive
cytopositive
diapositive
dipositive
false positive
geopositive
Gram-positive
gram-positive
HIV-positive
homopositive
hydropositive
I am HIV positive
immunofluoropositive
immunopositive
interpositive
juxtapositive
limit of positive stability
look on the positive side
multipositive
nature-positive
overpositive
pawsitive
photopositive
police positive
posi-
posistor
positive action
positive airway pressure
positive assortative mating
positive atheist
positive column
positive contribution
positive control
positive crystal
positive-definite
positive degree
positive discrimination
positive displacement pump
positive drainage
positive economics
positive edge
positive edge-triggered
positive-edge-triggered
positive education
positive electricity
positive eugenics
positive eyepiece
positive feedback
positive law
positive linear functional
positive logic
positive lookahead
positive lookaround
positive lookbehind
positively
positive material identification
positive measure
positive mental attitude
positive motion
positiveness
positive neutralism
positive neutrality
positive number
positive organ
positive philosophy
positive polarity item
positive pole
positive punk
positive quantity
positive recurrence
positive recurrent
positive reinforcement
positive rotation
positive sense
positive side waterproofing
positive sign
positive statement
positive-sum
positive thinking
positive transfer
positive transition
positive zero
positivism
positivist
positivity
positivize
positone
positron
postpositive
posynomial
proof positive
quasipositive
RhD positive
Rhesus positive
Rh positive
semipositive
semi-positive
seropositive
sex-positive
sociopositive
superpositive
task-positive
technopositive
tripositive
unipositive
unpositive
viropositive
xenopositive