negative

Universal Words adjective, noun, verb adjective bad 1 bad or harmful: The crisis had a negative effect on trade. * The whole experience was definitely more positive than negative. OPPPOSITIVE not hopeful 2 considering only the bad side of sth/sb; lacking enthusiasm or hope: Scientists have a fairly negative attitude to the theory. * 'He probably won't show up.' 'Don't be so negative.' OPPPOSITIVE no 3 expressing the answer 'no': His response was negative. * They received a negative reply. OPPAFFIRMATIVE grammar 4 containing a word such as 'no', 'not', 'never', etc: a negative form / sentence scientific test 5 (abbreviation neg.) not showing any evidence of a particular substance or medical condition: Her pregnancy test was negative. OPPPOSITIVE electricity 6 (technical) containing or producing the type of electricity that is carried by an ELECTRON: a negative charge / current * the negative terminal of a battery OPPPOSITIVE number / quantity 7 less than zero: a negative trade balance OPPPOSITIVE negatively adverb: to react negatively to stress * to answer / respond negatively * negatively charged electrons noun no 1 a word or statement that means 'no'; a refusal or DENIAL: (formal) She answered in the negative (= said 'no'). OPPAFFIRMATIVE photographic film 2 a developed photographic film showing the dark areas of an actual scene as light and light areas as dark: Keep the negatives in case you want more prints later. comparePOSITIVE in scientific test 3 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. OPPPOSITIVE verb [VN] (formal) 1 to refuse to agree to a proposal or a request 2 to prove that sth is not true