negative
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- contradictory, contrary, denying, dissenting, opposing, refusing, rejecting, resisting
- pessimistic, cynical, gloomy, jaundiced, uncooperative, unenthusiastic, unwilling
[noun]
Synonyms:
- contradiction, denial, refusal

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Antonyms: affirm
Related Words: abrogate, invalidate, nullify

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English Thesaurus: bad, poor, not very good, disappointing, negative, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. neg‧a‧tive¹ S2 W2 AC /ˈneɡətɪv/ adjective

1. BAD harmful, unpleasant, or not wanted Antonym : positive:
My drinking was starting to have a negative effect on my work.
the negative aspects of ageing
On the negative side, it will cost a lot.

2. NOT LIKING SOMEBODY/SOMETHING considering only the bad qualities of a situation, person etc and not the good ones Antonym : positive:
students with a negative attitude to school
They have a uniformly negative image of the police.
Jean rarely sounded so negative about her mother.

3. NO/NOT
a) saying or meaning ‘no’
negative answer/reply/response
He gave a negative answer without any explanation.
b) containing one of the words ‘no’, ‘not’, ‘nothing’, ‘never’ etc Antonym : affirmative

4. SCIENTIFIC TEST not showing any sign of the chemical or medical condition that was being looked for Antonym : positive:
The pregnancy test was negative.
A person can be recently infected by HIV and have a negative result.

5. ELECTRICITY technical a negative charge is carried by electrons Antonym : positive

6. NUMBER/QUANTITY less than zero Synonym : minus Antonym : positive:
negative numbers
a negative return on our investment (=a loss)

7. BLOOD technical used in the names of blood types, meaning not having the Rhesus factor Antonym : positive
—negatively adverb

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. negative² AC noun [countable]

1. an image on a photographic film that shows dark areas as light and light areas as dark, from which the final picture is printed:
black and white photographic negatives

2. a statement or expression that means ‘no’ Antonym : affirmative
answer/reply in the negative formal (=say 'no')
The majority of people, when asked whether or not they are creative, will reply in the negative.

3. something bad or harmful Antonym : positive:
The negatives outweigh the positives on this issue.

4. a negative result from a chemical or scientific test Antonym : positive:
The test will give a proportion of false negatives.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

III. negative³ verb [transitive] formal

1. to refuse to accept a proposal or request

2. to prove something to be untrue

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

negative
adj.
I. only thinking about/showing sb/sth's bad qualities
VERBS be, feel, seem, sound | become | remain
ADV. distinctly, extremely, strongly, terribly, very the strongly negative implications of these survey results Their attitude was terribly negative.
completely, entirely, exclusively, purely, totally, wholly She spoke in entirely negative terms.
largely, mainly, overwhelmingly | fairly, rather, slightly, somewhat | apparently | essentially Critical thinking is essentially negative as it seeks to dissect and not to build.
generally
PREP. about He's been rather negative about the idea.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

negative
II. showing that sth has not happened/been found
VERBS be, prove, test The breathalyser test proved negative. He tested negative for HIV infection.
PREP. for The urine tests were negative for protein.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

negative
noun
I. denial
VERB + NEGATIVE answer (sth) in, reply in She answered the question in the negative.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

negative
II. developed photographic film
ADJ. original | photographic | film, glass
QUANT. strip
VERB + NEGATIVE produce | develop His interest in photography started with him developing negatives that he found lying around the house.
keep We must assume that the spy kept the negatives.
destroy

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

bad not good:
a bad idea
His behaviour is getting worse.
poor not as good as it could be or should be:
A poor diet can lead to ill health.
his poor performance at school
not very good not good – often used instead of saying directly that something was ‘bad’, especially when you were disappointed by it:
The film wasn’t very good.
disappointing not as good as you hoped or expected:
Her exam results were disappointing.
a disappointing start to the campaign
negative bad – used when talking about the bad result or effect of something:
All the publicity had a negative impact on sales.
the negative effects of climate change
undesirable formal bad and not wanted:
The policy had some undesirable consequences.
drug abuse and other undesirable behaviour
unfavourable formal unfavourable conditions are not good for doing something:
The boat race was cancelled because of unfavourable weather.
awful/terrible/dreadful especially British English very bad:
The movie was awful.
Her house is in a terrible state.
a dreadful crime
horrible very bad, especially in a way that shocks or upsets you:
He describes prison as ‘a horrible place’.
It was a horrible exprerience.
disgusting smelling or tasting very bad:
The food was disgusting.
The fish smelled disgusting.
lousy /ˈlaʊzi/ informal very bad or disappointing:
The weather has been lousy all week.
I’m fed up with this lousy job.
ghastly /ˈɡɑːstli $ ˈɡæstli/ British English informal very bad:
I’ve had a ghastly day.
a ghastly mistake
severe severe problems, injuries, illnesses etc are very bad and serious:
The country faces severe economic problems.
severe delays
He suffered severe head injuries in a car crash.
atrocious/appalling/horrendous extremely bad in a way that is shocking:
Her behaviour has been absolutely atrocious.
The country has an appalling human rights record.
abysmal /əˈbɪzməl/ very bad and of a very low standard:
The team’s performance was abysmal.
the abysmal conditions in some prisons

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

harmful causing physical harm – used especially about things that cause harm to your health, the environment etc:
Smoking is harmful to your health.
drugs with harmful side-effects
be bad for somebody/something to have a harmful effect on someone or something. This phrase is very commonly used in everyday English when saying that something is harmful:
Everyone knows that too much alcohol is bad for you.
damaging used about things that cause permanent physical harm, or that have a bad effect in other ways, for example on people’s opinion of someone:
Acid rain has a damaging effect on trees and the soil.
The allegations were very damaging to his career.
Constant criticism is damaging to a child’s self-esteem.
detrimental formal causing harm or having a bad effect on something:
Employers are worried that the new laws will have a detrimental effect on their business.
chemicals that are detrimental to the environment
policies that have been detrimental to the interests of old people
negative a negative effect is one that is bad and causes problems:
The car tax had a negative effect on car sales.
the negative impact of the recession in the US
hazardous hazardous substances are likely to be dangerous to people’s health and safety:
Hazardous waste needs to be disposed of safely.
hazardous chemicals
toxic toxic substances, smoke etc are poisonous:
toxic waste
toxic fumes
Toxic chemicals spilled into the river.
pernicious /pəˈnɪʃəs $ pər-/ formal used about something that has a gradual bad effect which is not easy to notice, especially on people’s morals, or on their health:
the pernicious effects of violent video games
the pernicious effect of secondhand smoke

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

pessimistic expecting that bad things will happen, or that someone will be unsuccessful:
He was pessimistic about the team’s chances of winning the championship.
a pessimistic view of human nature
downbeat having an attitude that is not hopeful and not expecting success, or not expecting the situation to improve, especially the economic or political situation:
The overall mood in the stockmarket is decidedly downbeat.
The chairman made some downbeat remarks about the company’s sales performance.
His assessment of the UK’s economic prospects is generally downbeat.
gloomy not having much hope for the future:
Environmental groups are gloomy about the future of our planet.
The article painted a gloomy picture of the human rights situation in Burma.
negative considering only the bad qualities of a situation, person etc, and not the good ones:
His negative attitude towards work was affecting his colleagues.
Why are you always so negative?
fear the worst formal to expect a situation to have the worst possible result, because you know how bad the situation could be:
I hadn’t heard any news from her for over a week, and I was starting to fear the worst.
sb’s glass is half empty informal used about people who only see the bad qualities of a situation, even when other people might see better qualities in the same situation:
He’s one of those people whose glass is always half empty.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲