Collins English-English Dictionary

negative ['nεgətɪv]

1. 1. adj expressing or meaning a refusal or denial

   a negative answer

2. 2. adj lacking positive or affirmative qualities, such as enthusiasm, interest, or optimism

3. 3. adj showing or tending towards opposition or resistance

4. 4. adj measured in a direction opposite to that regarded as positive

5. 5. adj having the same magnitude but opposite sense to an equivalent positive quantity

6. 6. adj [biology] indicating movement or growth away from a particular stimulus

   negative geotropism

7. 7. adj [med] (of the results of a diagnostic test) indicating absence of the disease or condition for which the test was made

8. 8. adj another word for minus

9. 9. adj [physics] (of an electric charge) having the same polarity as the charge of an electron

10. 10. adj (of a body, system, ion, etc) having a negative electric charge; having an excess of electrons

11. 11. adj (of a point in an electric circuit) having a lower electrical potential than some other point with an assigned zero potential

12. 12. adj short for electronegative

13. 13. adj of or relating to a photographic negative

14. 14. adj [logic] (of a categorial proposition) denying the satisfaction by the subject of the predicate, as in some men are irrational; no pigs have wings

15. 15. adj [astrology] of, relating to, or governed by the signs of the zodiac of the earth and water classifications, which are thought to be associated with a receptive passive nature

16. 16. adj short for Rh negative

17. 17. n a statement or act of denial, refusal, or negation

18. 18. n a negative person or thing

19. 19. n [photog] a piece of photographic film or a plate, previously exposed and developed, showing an image that, in black-and-white photography, has a reversal of tones. In colour photography the image is in complementary colours to the subject so that blue sky appears yellow, green grass appears purple, etc

20. 20. n [physics] a negative object, such as a terminal or a plate in a voltaic cell

21. 21. n a sentence or other linguistic element with a negative meaning, as the English word not

22. 22. n a quantity less than zero or a quantity to be subtracted

23. 23. n [logic] a negative proposition

24. 24. n [archaic] the right of veto

25. 25. sentence substitute (esp in military communications) a signal code word for no

26. 26. vt. [tr] to deny or nullify; negate

27. 27. vt. to show to be false; disprove

28. 28. vt. to refuse consent to or approval of

    the proposal was negatived

29. 29. vt. Compare positive affirmative