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(), a.[F. ngatif, 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 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) Asserting absence of connection between a subject and a predicate; as, a negative proposition. 4. (Photog.) Of or pertaining to a picture upon glass or other material, in which the lights and shades of the Neg"ative n.[Cf. F. ngative.] 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. 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 whi Neg"ative (), v. t.[imp. & p. p.Negatived (); p. pr. & vb. n.Negativing.] 1. To prove unreal or untrue; 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. スポンサード リンク
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