1. The act of denying; assertion of the nonreality or untruthfulness of anything; declaration that something
is not, or has not been, or will not be; denial; — the opposite of affirmation.
Our assertions and negations should be yea and nay.
Rogers. 2. (Logic) Description or definition by denial, exclusion, or exception; statement of what a thing is not,
or has not, from which may be inferred what it is or has.
Negative
(Neg"a*tive) a. [F. négatif, L. negativus, fr. negare to deny. See Negation.]
1. Denying; implying, containing, or asserting denial, negation or refusal; returning the answer no to an
inquiry or request; refusing assent; as, a negative answer; a negative opinion; — opposed to affirmative.
If thou wilt confess,
Or else be impudently negative.
Shak.
Denying me any power of a negative voice.
Eikon Basilike.
Something between an affirmative bow and a negative shake.
Dickens. 2. Not positive; without affirmative statement or demonstration; indirect; consisting in the absence of something; privative; as,
a negative argument; a negative morality; negative criticism.
There in another way of denying Christ, . . . which is negative, when we do not acknowledge and confess
him.
South. 3. (Logic) Asserting absence of connection between a subject and a predicate; as, a negative proposition.
4. (Photog.) Of or pertaining to a picture upon glass or other material, in which the lights and shades
of the original, and the relations of right and left, are reversed.
5. (Chem.) Metalloidal; nonmetallic; - - contracted with positive or basic; as, the nitro group is negative.
This word, derived from electro-negative, is now commonly used in a more general sense, when acidiferous
is the intended signification.
Negative crystal. (a) A cavity in a mineral mass, having the form of a crystal. (b) A crystal which
has the power of negative double refraction. See refraction. — negative electricity (Elec.), the kind
of electricity which is developed upon resin or ebonite when rubbed, or which appears at that pole of a
voltaic battery which is connected with the plate most attacked by the exciting liquid; — formerly called
resinous electricity. Opposed to positive electricity. Formerly, according to Franklin's theory of a single
electric fluid, negative electricity was supposed to be electricity in a degree below saturation, or the natural
amount for a given body. see Electricity. — Negative eyepiece. (Opt.) see under Eyepiece. —
Negative quantity (Alg.), a quantity preceded by the negative sign, or which stands in the relation
indicated by this sign to some other quantity. See Negative sign — Negative rotation, right-handed
rotation. See Right-handed, 3. — 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 quanties having the
sign plus either expressed or understood; thus, in a - b, b is to be substracted from a, or regarded as
opposite to it in value; and -10° on a thermometer means 10° below the zero of the scale.
Negative
(Neg"a*tive), n. [Cf. F. négative.]
