NEGATIVES
Noun
negatives
plural of negative
Verb
negatives
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of negative
Anagrams
• agentives, gate veins, veganites
Source: Wiktionary
NEGATIVE
Neg"a*tive, a. Etym: [F. négatif, L. negativus, fr. negare to deny.
See Negation.]
1. Denying; implying, containing, or asserting denial, negation or
refusal; returning the answer no to an inquiry or request; refusing
assent; as, a negative answer; a negative opinion; -- opposed to Ant:
affirmative.
If thou wilt confess, Or else be impudently negative. Shak.
Denying me any power of a negative voice. Eikon Basilike.
Something between an affirmative bow and a negative shake. Dickens.
2. Not positive; without affirmative statement or demonstration;
indirect; consisting in the absence of something; privative; as, a
negative argument; a negative morality; negative criticism.
There in another way of denying Christ, ... which is negative, when
we do not acknowledge and confess him. South.
3. (Logic)
Definition: Asserting absence of connection between a subject and a
predicate; as, a negative proposition.
4. (Photog.)
Definition: Of or pertaining to a picture upon glass or other material, in
which the lights and shades of the original, and the relations of
right and left, are reversed.
5. (Chem.)
Definition: Metalloidal; nonmetallic; -- contracted with positive or basic;
as, the nitro group is negative.
Note: This word, derived from electro-negative, is now commonly used
in a more general sense, when acidiferous is the intended
signification. Negative crystal. (a) A cavity in a mineral mass,
having the form of a crystal. (b) A crystal which has the power of
negative double refraction. See refraction.
– negative electricity (Elec.), the kind of electricity which is
developed upon resin or ebonite when rubbed, or which appears at that
pole of a voltaic battery which is connected with the plate most
attacked by the exciting liquid; -- formerly called resinous
electricity. Opposed to Ant: positive electricity. Formerly,
according to Franklin's theory of a single electric fluid, negative
electricity was supposed to be electricity in a degree below
saturation, or the natural amount for a given body. see Electricity.
– Negative eyepiece. (Opt.) see under Eyepiece.
– Negative quantity (Alg.), a quantity preceded by the negative
sign, or which stands in the relation indicated by this sign to some
other quantity. See Negative sign (below).
– Negative rotation, right-handed rotation. See Right-handed, 3.
– Negative sign, the sign -, or minus (opposed in signification to
+, or Ant: plus), indicating that the quantity to which it is
prefixed is to be subtracted from the preceding quantity, or is to be
reckoned from zero or cipher in the opposite direction to that of
quanties having the sign plus either expressed or understood; thus,
in a - b, b is to be substracted from a, or regarded as opposite to
it in value; and -10° on a thermometer means 10° below the zero of
the scale.
Neg"a*tive, n. Etym: [Cf. F. négative.]
1. A proposition by which something is denied or forbidden; a
conception or term formed by prefixing the negative particle to one
which is positive; an opposite or contradictory term or conception.
This is a known rule in divinity, that there is no command that runs
in negatives but couches under it a positive duty. South.
2. A word used in denial or refusal; as, not, no.
Note: In Old England two or more negatives were often joined together
for the sake of emphasis, whereas now such expressions are considered
ungrammatical, being chiefly heard in iliterate speech. A double
negative is now sometimes used as nearly or quite equivalent to an
affirmative.
No wine ne drank she, neither white nor red. Chaucer.
These eyes that never did nor never shall So much as frown on you.
Shak.
3. The refusal or withholding of assents; veto.
If a kind without his kingdom be, in a civil sense, nothing, then ...
his negative is as good as nothing. Milton.
4. That side of a question which denies or refuses, or which is taken
by an opposing or denying party; the relation or position of denial
or opposition; as, the question was decided in the negative.
5. (Photog.)
Definition: A picture upon glass or other material, in which the light
portions of the original are represented in some opaque material
(usually reduced silver), and the dark portions by the uncovered and
transparent or semitransparent ground of the picture.
Note: A negative is chiefly used for producing photographs by means
of the sun's light passing through it and acting upon sensitized
paper, thus producing on the paper a positive picture.
6. (Elect.)
Definition: The negative plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell. Negative
pregnant (Law), a negation which implies an affirmation.
Neg"a*tive, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Negatived; p. pr. & vb. n.
Negativing.]
1. To prove unreal or intrue; to disprove.
The omission or infrequency of such recitals does not negative the
existence of miracles. Paley.
2. To reject by vote; to refuse to enact or sanction; as, the Senate
negatived the bill.
3. To neutralize the force of; to counteract.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition