Negative | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Nēg'a-tive, a.

adjective

a. [Lat. negativus, from negare, to deny; It. & Sp. negativo, Pr. negatiu, Fr. négatif. See supra.]

Sense 1. Implying denial, negation, or difference; asserting absence of connection between a subject and a predicate; returning the answer no to an inquiry or request; refusing assent; — opposed to affirmative; as, a negative proposition is that which denies.

Sense 2. Implying absence of what is appropriate or expected; without positive statement or demonstration; tending to disprove, or to prove the opposite; in the negative; — opposed to positive; as, a negative argument.

There is a negative way of denying Christ, when we do not acknowledge and confess him. South.

Sense 3. Having the power or effect of stopping or restraining. “Denying me any power of a negative voice as king.” King Charles.

Negative electricity, electricity in a degree below saturation, or the natural amount for a given body, according to Franklin's theory of a single electric fluid; the same as resinous electricity in the theory of two fluids. — Negative eye-piece. (Opt.) See EYE-PIECE. — Negative quantity (Alg.), a quantity preceded by the sign —, or which stands in the relation indicated by this sign to some other quantity. — Negative sign, the sign —, or minus, opposed in signification to +, or 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 quantities having the sign plus either expressed or understood; thus, in a — b, b is to be subtracted from a, or regarded as opposite to it in value; — 10° on a thermometer means 10° below the zero of the scale.

Nēg'a-tīve, n.

noun

n. [Fr. négative, It. & Sp. negativa.] 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.

A word that denies; as, not, no.
The refusal or withholding of assent; veto.

If a king without his kingdom be, in a civil sense, nothing, then . . . his negative is as good as nothing. Milton.

Position or relation taken by an opposing or denying party; the relation of denial or opposition; as, the question was decided in the negative.
(Photog.) A picture upon glass 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 semi-transparent ground of the picture.

☞ 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. Negative pregnant, a negation of one thing, implying the affirmation of another.

Nĕg'a-tive, v. t.

verbtransitive

(Synop., § 130), 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.