negative
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈnɛɡətɪv/
ipa: /ˈnɛɡətɪv/
ipa: /-ɾɪv/
ipa: /ˈneɡətɪv/
ipa: /-ɾɪv/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈnɛɡəʈɪv/
note: Indic
ipa: /nɪɡəˈʈɪv/
note: Indic
ipa: /nɛ~ɪˈɡeʈɪv/
Forms: form: negatives
form: negativing
form: negatived
form: negatived
form: -ve
form: −ve
Etymology: From Middle English negative, negatif, from Old French negatif, from Latin negātīvus (“that denies, negative”), from negāre (“to deny”); see negate.
Senses: examples: text: Poppy earnestly begged to be allowed to go with Jasmine on the roof, but this the good lady negatived with horror.
ref: 1887, L. T. Meade, chapter XVIII, in The Palace Beautiful: A Story for Girls:
text: And being of warm blood he had not the phlegm tacitly to negative any proposition by unresponsive inaction.
ref: 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 12, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:
glosses: To refuse; to veto.
examples: text: "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.
ref: 1892, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXXIII, in Tess of the d'Urbervilles:
glosses: To contradict.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1882, J. H. Riddell, “Old Mrs Jones”, in The Collected Ghost Stories of Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Dover, published 1977, page 192:
text: "However, the fact that they need crystals negatives that idea...we must seek a material explanation."
ref: 1957, Sydney J. Bounds, The Robot Brains, London: Digit Books, page 62:
glosses: To disprove.
examples: text: "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."
ref: 1918 May 9, Lytton Strachey, “[Florence Nightingale.] Chapter III”, in Eminent Victorians: Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Arnold, General Gordon (Library of English Literature; LEL 11347), London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 162:
text: In the nature of things, much railway capital expenditure on stations and depots was in the immediate vicinity, if not in the heart, of towns, and extensions or remodellings, apart from being extremely costly, may be entirely negatived by the impossibility of securing the necessary land.
ref: 1945 March and April, T. F. Cameron, “New Works Procedure”, in Railway Magazine, page 71:
text: He was coatless and his thumbs were hooked negligently in a leather belt, thereby negativing a tendency to balance himself on an inclined plane backwards.
ref: 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 62:
text: Yet he made his largesse daily more lavish, as he saw the king negativing his efforts by taking care of the orphans and showing his remorse for the murder of his sons by his tenderness towards their little ones.
ref: 1959, Flavius Josephus, chapter 5, in G. A. Williamson, transl., The Jewish War, Penguin, published 1970, page 98:
text: While the diesel-hydraulic system has been failing to live up to its early promise, development in other directions has negatived some of the advantages which prompted its trial.
ref: 1963 January, G. Freeman Allen, “Why B.R. are dropping high-power diesel-hydraulics”, in Modern Railways, page 25:
glosses: To make ineffective; to neutralize; to negate.
Derived terms: negativation
negativer