| / English Dictionary |
AFFIRMATIVE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A reply of affirmation
Example:
he answered in the affirmative
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("affirmative" is a kind of...):
affirmation; avouchment; avowal (a statement asserting the existence or the truth of something)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "affirmative"):
double negative (an affirmative constructed from two negatives)
Antonym:
negative (a reply of denial)
Derivation:
affirmative (affirming or giving assent)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Affirming or giving assent
Example:
affirmative votes
Synonyms:
affirmative; affirmatory
Classified under:
Similar:
assentient (expressing agreement or consent)
Also:
favorable; favourable (encouraging or approving or pleasing)
positive (characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.)
Antonym:
negative (expressing or consisting of a negation or refusal or denial)
Derivation:
affirm (say yes to)
affirmative (a reply of affirmation)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Expressing or manifesting praise or approval
Example:
an affirmative nod
Synonyms:
affirmative; approbative; approbatory; approving; plausive
Classified under:
Similar:
favorable; favourable (encouraging or approving or pleasing)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Expecting the best
Example:
an affirmative outlook
Synonyms:
affirmative; optimistic
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
positive (characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.)
Derivation:
affirmativeness (the agreeable quality of one who assents)
Context examples:
One of the members for the affirmative offered several arguments of great strength and weight, alleging, that as the Yahoos were the most filthy, noisome, and deformed animals which nature ever produced, so they were the most restive and indocible, mischievous and malicious; they would privately suck the teats of the Houyhnhnms’ cows, kill and devour their cats, trample down their oats and grass, if they were not continually watched, and commit a thousand other extravagancies.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
—were questions now eagerly poured forth; the first three received a ready affirmative, the two others were passed by; and Catherine's interest in the deceased Mrs. Tilney augmented with every question, whether answered or not.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Again the mysterious voice replied in the affirmative, and again the servant echoed it.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
“Have you,” he said, “really spent your time in studying such nonsense?” I replied in the affirmative.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
They laughed—kissed me—then Hannah: patted Carlo, who was half wild with delight; asked eagerly if all was well; and being assured in the affirmative, hastened into the house.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
She replied in the affirmative.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
On Steerforth's replying in the affirmative, she pushed a chair against it, and begging the assistance of my hand, mounted up, pretty nimbly, to the top, as if it were a stage.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
My answering in the affirmative gave him great satisfaction.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Peggotty laughed, and answered in the affirmative.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Miss Mills replied in the affirmative so readily, that I further asked her if she would take charge of the Cookery Book; and, if she ever could insinuate it upon Dora's acceptance, without frightening her, undertake to do me that crowning service.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
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