| / English Dictionary |
POSITIVE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A film showing a photographic image whose tones correspond to those of the original subject
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("positive" is a kind of...):
film; photographic film (photographic material consisting of a base of celluloid covered with a photographic emulsion; used to make negatives or transparencies)
Holonyms ("positive" is a part of...):
lantern slide; slide (a transparency mounted in a frame; viewed with a slide projector)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The primary form of an adjective or adverb; denotes a quality without qualification, comparison, or relation to increase or diminution
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("positive" is a kind of...):
adjective (a word that expresses an attribute of something)
adverb (a word that modifies something other than a noun)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Involving advantage or good
Example:
a plus (or positive) factor
Synonyms:
plus; positive
Classified under:
Similar:
advantageous; favorable; favourable (giving an advantage)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Persuaded of; very sure
Example:
was confident he would win
Synonyms:
confident; convinced; positive
Classified under:
Similar:
certain; sure (having or feeling no doubt or uncertainty; confident and assured)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Marked by excessive confidence
Example:
the less he knows the more positive he gets
Synonyms:
cocksure; overconfident; positive
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
confident (having or marked by confidence or assurance)
Derivation:
positiveness (a quality or state characterized by certainty or acceptance or affirmation and dogmatic assertiveness)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Having a positive charge
Example:
protons are positive
Synonyms:
electropositive; positive; positively charged
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
charged (of a particle or body or system; having a net amount of positive or negative electric charge)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Impossible to deny or disprove
Example:
an irrefutable argument
Synonyms:
incontrovertible; irrefutable; positive
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
undeniable (not possible to deny)
Derivation:
positivity (the quality of being undeniable and not worth arguing about)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Formally laid down or imposed
Example:
positive laws
Synonyms:
positive; prescribed
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
formal (being in accord with established forms and conventions and requirements (as e.g. of formal dress))
Sense 7
Meaning:
Characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.
Example:
a positive demand
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
affirmative; optimistic (expecting the best)
constructive (emphasizing what is laudable or hopeful or to the good)
Also:
supportive (furnishing support or assistance)
affirmative; affirmatory (affirming or giving assent)
constructive (constructing or tending to construct or improve or promote development)
optimistic (expecting the best in this best of all possible worlds)
Attribute:
quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)
Antonym:
negative (characterized by or displaying negation or denial or opposition or resistance; having no positive features)
neutral (possessing no distinctive quality or characteristics)
Derivation:
positiveness; positivity (a quality or state characterized by certainty or acceptance or affirmation and dogmatic assertiveness)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Greater than zero
Example:
positive numbers
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
plus (on the positive side or higher end of a scale)
Domain category:
math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)
Derivation:
positivity (an amount greater than zero)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Reckoned, situated or tending in the direction which naturally or arbitrarily is taken to indicate increase or progress or onward motion
Example:
positive increase in graduating students
Classified under:
Adjectives
Antonym:
negative (reckoned in a direction opposite to that regarded as positive)
Sense 10
Meaning:
Indicating existence or presence of a suspected condition or pathogen
Example:
a positive pregnancy test
Synonyms:
confirming; positive
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
Gram-positive ((of bacteria) being or relating to a bacterium that retains the violet stain used in Gram's method)
Domain category:
medical specialty; medicine (the branches of medical science that deal with nonsurgical techniques)
Antonym:
negative (not indicating the presence of microorganisms or disease or a specific condition)
Sense 11
Meaning:
Of or relating to positivism
Example:
positive philosophy
Synonyms:
positive; positivist; positivistic
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Pertainym:
positivism (the form of empiricism that bases all knowledge on perceptual experience (not on intuition or revelation))
Derivation:
positiveness (a quality or state characterized by certainty or acceptance or affirmation and dogmatic assertiveness)
Context examples:
I experienced a positive sensuous delight as I crawled into the bed she had made with her hands.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
A bipyridine agent with positive inotropic and vasodilator properties.
(Milrinone Lactate, NCI Thesaurus)
Yet, by the very definition of positive science, science is concerned only with appearances.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Elinor's satisfaction, at the moment of removal, was more positive.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
More than an attachment, indeed, resumed Mrs. Weston; an engagement—a positive engagement.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
When the researchers analysed the tumours, they found no evidence of either positive or negative selection.
(The curious tale of the cancer ‘parasite’ that sailed the seas, University of Cambridge)
But Poole was positive nothing had come except by post; “and only circulars by that,” he added.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
We know he is at the bottom of fifty murders, and yet we have nothing positive we can take him on.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The fishing scheme had been renewed the day before, and a positive engagement made of his meeting some of the gentlemen at Pemberley before noon.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Fanny!—so very determined and positive!
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
