Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - negative

(negatives) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A fact, situation, or experience that is negative is unpleasant, depressing, or harmful. The news from overseas is overwhelmingly negative... All this had an extremely negative effect on the criminal justice system. ? positive ADJ • negatively This will negatively affect the result over the first half of the year. ADV: ADV with v 2. If someone is negative or has a negative attitude, they consider only the bad aspects of a situation, rather than the good ones. When asked for your views about your current job, on no account must you be negative about it... Why does the media present such a negative view of this splendid city? ? positive ADJ • negatively A few weeks later he said that maybe he viewed all his relationships rather negatively. ADV: usu ADV after v • negativity I loathe negativity. I can’t stand people who moan. N-UNCOUNT 3. A negative reply or decision indicates the answer ‘no’. Dr Velayati gave a vague but negative response... Upon a negative decision, the applicant loses the protection offered by Belgian law... ? affirmative ADJ • negatively 60 percent of the sample answered negatively... ADV: ADV after v 4. A negative is a word, expression, or gesture that means ‘no’ or ‘not’. In the past we have heard only negatives when it came to following a healthy diet. N-COUNT 5. In grammar, a negative clause contains a word such as ‘not’, ‘never’, or ‘no-one’. ADJ 6. If a medical test or scientific test is negative, it shows no evidence of the medical condition or substance that you are looking for. So far 57 have taken the test and all have been negative. ...negative test results. ? positive ADJ 7. HIV negative: see HIV 8. In photography, a negative is an image that shows dark areas as light and light areas as dark. Negatives are made from a camera film, and are used to print photographs. N-COUNT 9. A negative charge or current has the same electrical charge as an electron. Stimulate the site of greatest pain with a small negative current. ? positive ADJ • negatively As these electrons are negatively charged they will attempt to repel each other. ADV: ADV -ed 10. A negative number, quantity, or measurement is less than zero. The weakest students can end up with a negative score. = minus ADJ: usu ADJ n 11. If an answer is in the negative, it is ‘no’ or means ‘no’. Seventy-nine voted in the affirmative, and none in the negative. PHRASE: PHR after v