positive
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: arts
chemistry
grammar
hobbies
human-sciences
law
lifestyle
linguistics
mathematics
natural-sciences
philosophy
photography
physical-sciences
physics
sciences
Etymology: From Old French positif, from Latin positivus, from the past participle stem of ponere (“to place”). Compare posit.
Inflected forms:
form: more positive
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most positive
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: +ve
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: positives
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: +ve
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: Included, present, characterized by affirmation.
pos: adj
gloss: Formally laid down.
pos: adj
examples: In laws, that which is natural bindeth universally; that which is positive, not so.
gloss: Stated definitively and without qualification.
pos: adj
examples: Positive words, that he would not bear arms against King Edward’s son.
gloss: Fully assured in opinion.
pos: adj
examples: I’m absolutely positive you've spelt that wrong.
gloss: Greater than zero.
pos: adj
gloss: Greater than or equal to zero.
pos: adj
tags: sometimes
examples: 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 […]
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 […]
gloss: Characterized by constructiveness or influence for the better.
pos: adj
examples: 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?
gloss: Overconfident, dogmatic.
pos: adj
examples: Some positive, persisting fops we know, That, if once wrong, will needs be always so.
gloss: Actual, real, concrete, not theoretical or speculative.
pos: adj
examples: [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.
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...
gloss: Having more protons than electrons.
pos: adj
examples: A cation is a positive ion as it has more protons than electrons.
gloss: Describing the primary sense of an adjective, adverb or noun; not comparative, superlative, augmentative nor diminutive.
pos: adj
examples: ‘Better’ is an irregular comparative of the positive form ‘good’.
gloss: Describing a verb that is not negated, especially in languages which have distinct positive and negative verb forms, e.g., Finnish.
pos: adj
gloss: Derived from an object by itself; not dependent on changing circumstances or relations.
pos: adj
examples: The idea of beauty is not positive, but depends on the different tastes of individuals.
positive knowledge
gloss: Characterized by the existence or presence of distinguishing qualities or features, rather than by their absence.
pos: adj
examples: The box was not empty – I felt some positive substance within it.
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.
gloss: Characterized by the presence of features which support a hypothesis.
pos: adj
examples: The results of our experiment are positive.
gloss: Confirmed, straight-up.
pos: adj
examples: Ben […], who seems at first to be a likable guy but is actually a positive sexist.
gloss: Of a visual image, true to the original in light, shade and colour values.
pos: adj
examples: A positive photograph can be developed from a photographic negative.
gloss: Favorable, desirable by those interested or invested in that which is being judged.
pos: adj
examples: The first-night reviews were largely positive.
gloss: Wholly what is expressed; colloquially downright, entire, outright.
pos: adj
examples: Good lord, you've built up a positive arsenal of weaponry here.
gloss: Optimistic.
pos: adj
examples: He has a positive outlook on life.
gloss: electropositive
pos: adj
gloss: basic; metallic; not acid; opposed to negative, and said of metals, bases, and basic radicals.
pos: adj
gloss: HIV positive.
pos: adj
tags: slang
examples: 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.
gloss: Good, desirable, healthful, pleasant, enjoyable.
pos: adj
tags: New-Age
jargon
examples: positive energy; positive thoughts, feelings or emotions
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...
gloss: A thing capable of being affirmed; something real or actual.
pos: noun
examples: rating Positives by their Privatives
gloss: A favourable point or characteristic.
pos: noun
gloss: Something having a positive value in physics, such as an electric charge.
pos: noun
gloss: A degree of comparison of adjectives and adverbs.
pos: noun
gloss: An adjective or adverb in the positive degree.
pos: noun
gloss: A positive image; one that displays true colors and shades, not their opposites or complements.
pos: noun
gloss: The positive plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell.
pos: noun
gloss: A positive result of a test.
pos: noun
Derived words: 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 entry
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 pion
positive polarity item
positive pole
positive Polly
positive punk
positive quantity
positive recurrence
positive recurrent
positive reinforcement
positive rotation
positive sense
positive side waterproofing
positive sign
positive split
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
Translations:
lang: Armenian
word: դրական
roman: drakan
lang: Bulgarian
word: положителен
roman: položitelen
lang: Esperanto
word: pozitiva
lang: Georgian
word: დადებითი
roman: dadebiti
lang: Georgian
word: პოზიტიური
roman: ṗoziṭiuri
lang: German
word: positiv
lang: Greek
word: θετικός
roman: thetikós
lang: Hungarian
word: pozitív
lang: Hungarian
word: kedvező
lang: Hungarian
word: helyeslő
lang: Hungarian
word: támogató
lang: Hungarian
word: igenlő
lang: Hungarian
word: biztató
lang: Irish
word: deimhneach
lang: Russian
word: положи́тельный
roman: položítelʹnyj
lang: Russian
word: позити́вный
roman: pozitívnyj
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: pozitivan
lang: Slovak
word: pozitívny
lang: Slovak
word: kladný
lang: Finnish
word: positiivinen