- a word or statement that means ‘no’; an act of refusing to do something or of denying something
- in the negative (formal) She answered in the negative (= said ‘no’).
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryphrases- in the negative
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- the negativea bad quality or aspect of a situation
- Try not to focus on the negative.
- The positives outweigh the negatives.
- the result of a test or an experiment that shows that a substance or condition is not present
- The percentage of false negatives generated by the cancer test is of great concern.
- a word such as ‘no’, ‘not’, ‘never’, etc.
- Double negatives, as in ‘I don't want no dinner’, are considered an error in English.
- a developed film showing the dark areas of an actual scene as light and the light areas as dark
- Keep the negatives in case you want more prints later.
Extra Examples- His interest in photography started with him developing negatives that he found lying around the house.
- We must assume that the spy kept the negatives.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- original
- enlarged
- photographic
- …
- strip
- produce
- develop
- …
no
bad quality
in scientific test
grammar
in photography
Word Originlate Middle English: from late Latin negativus, from negare ‘deny’.
Check pronunciation:
negative