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View synonyms for positive
positive
[ poz-i-tiv ]
adjective
- explicitly stated, stipulated, or expressed:
a positive acceptance of the agreement.
Synonyms: precise, clear, categorical, unequivocal, explicit
Antonyms: indefinite
- admitting of no question:
positive proof.
Synonyms: indisputable, incontrovertible
Antonyms: doubtful
- stated; express; emphatic:
a positive denial.
- confident in opinion or assertion; fully assured:
He is positive that he will win the contest.
Synonyms: unquestioning
- overconfident or dogmatic:
The less he knows, the more positive he gets.
- without relation to or comparison with other things; not relative or comparative; absolute.
- Informal. downright; out-and-out:
She's a positive genius.
- determined by enactment or convention; arbitrarily laid down:
positive law.
- emphasizing what is laudable, hopeful, or to the good; constructive:
a positive attitude toward the future; positive things to say about a painting.
- encouraging or noting a healthy or balanced outlook toward something, especially toward sex and sexuality (used in combination): the body-positive movement;
sex-positive attitudes;
the body-positive movement;
a gay-positive movie.
- not speculative or theoretical; practical:
a positive approach to the problem.
- possessing an actual force, being, existence, etc.
- Philosophy.
- constructive and sure, rather than skeptical.
- concerned with or based on matters of experience:
positive philosophy.
- showing or expressing approval or agreement; favorable:
a positive reaction to the speech.
- consisting in or characterized by the presence or possession of distinguishing or marked qualities or features ( negative ):
Light is positive, darkness negative.
- noting the presence of such qualities, as a term.
- measured or proceeding in a direction assumed as beneficial, progressive, or auspicious:
a positive upturn in the stock market.
- Electricity.
- of, relating to, or characterized by positive electricity.
- indicating a point in a circuit that has a higher potential than that of another point, the current flowing from the point of higher potential to the point of lower potential.
- of, relating to, or noting the north pole of a magnet.
- Chemistry. (of an element or group) tending to lose electrons and become positively charged; basic.
- Grammar. being, noting, or pertaining to the initial degree of the comparison of adjectives and adverbs, as the positive form good. Compare comparative ( def 4 ), superlative ( def 2 ).
- Medicine/Medical.
- (of blood, affected tissue, etc.) indicating the presence of a specified medical condition or substance:
Her urine was positive for opiates.
- (of a diagnostic test) indicating the presence of the medical condition or substance tested for:
a positive test for tuberculosis.
- (of a person) diagnosed as having a specified medical condition, or having a specified substance in the body (often used in combination): She tested positive for lupus.
He's HIV positive.
She tested positive for lupus.
- Biochemistry. Rh factor.
- Mathematics. noting a quantity greater than zero.
- (of government) assuming control or regulation of activities beyond those involved merely with the maintenance of law and order.
- Biology. oriented or moving toward the focus of excitation:
a positive tropism.
- Photography. denoting a print or transparency showing the brightness values as they are in the subject.
- Machinery. noting or pertaining to a process or machine part having a fixed or certain operation, especially as the result of elimination of play, free motion, etc.:
positive lubrication.
noun
- something positive.
- a positive quality or characteristic.
- a positive quantity or symbol.
- a positive test result:
The athlete was disqualified from competing because his drug test came back a positive.
- Grammar.
- the positive degree.
- a form in the positive, as good or smooth.
- Photography. a positive image, as on a print or transparency.
positive
/ ˈpɒzɪtɪv /
adjective
- characterized by or expressing certainty or affirmation
a positive answer
- composed of or possessing actual or specific qualities; real
a positive benefit
- tending to emphasize what is good or laudable; constructive
he takes a very positive attitude when correcting pupils' mistakes
- tending towards progress or improvement; moving in a beneficial direction
- philosophy
- constructive rather than sceptical
- (of a concept) denoting the presence rather than the absence of some property
- independent of circumstances; absolute or unqualified
- informal.prenominal (intensifier)
a positive delight
- maths
- having a value greater than zero
a positive number
- designating, consisting of, or graduated in one or more quantities greater than zero
positive direction
- maths
- measured in a direction opposite to that regarded as negative
- having the same magnitude as but opposite sense to an equivalent negative quantity
- grammar denoting the usual form of an adjective as opposed to its comparative or superlative form
- biology indicating movement or growth towards a particular stimulus
- physics
- (of an electric charge) having an opposite polarity to the charge of an electron and the same polarity as the charge of a proton
- (of a body, system, ion, etc) having a positive electric charge; having a deficiency of electrons
a positive ion
- (of a point in an electric circuit) having a higher electric potential than some other point with an assigned zero potential
- short for electropositive
- (of a lens) capable of causing convergence of a parallel beam of light
- med (of the results of an examination or test) indicating the existence or presence of a suspected disorder or pathogenic organism
- med (of the effect of a drug or therapeutic regimen) beneficial or satisfactory
- short for Rh positive
- (of a machine part) having precise motion with no hysteresis or backlash
- (of a government) directly involved in activities beyond the minimum maintenance of law and order, such as social welfare or the organization of scientific research
- economics of or denoting an analysis that is free of ethical, political, or value judgments
- astrology of, relating to, or governed by the group of signs of the zodiac that belong to the air and fire classifications, which are associated with a self-expressive spontaneous nature
noun
- something that is positive
- maths a quantity greater than zero
- photog a print or slide showing a photographic image whose colours or tones correspond to those of the original subject
- grammar the positive degree of an adjective or adverb
- a positive object, such as a terminal or plate in a voltaic cell
- music
- Also calledpositive organ a medieval nonportable organ with one manual and no pedals Compare portative organ
- a variant spelling of positif
positive
/ pŏz′ĭ-tĭv /
- Greater than zero.
- Having an electric charge or voltage greater than zero.
- Indicating the presence of a disease, condition, or organism, as a diagnostic test.
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Derived Forms
- ˈpositiveness, noun
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Other Words From
- posi·tive·ness noun
- over·posi·tive adjective
- over·posi·tive·ly adverb
- over·posi·tive·ness noun
- quasi-posi·tive adjective
- quasi-posi·tive·ly adverb
- super·posi·tive adjective
- super·posi·tive·ly adverb
- super·posi·tive·ness noun
- un·posi·tive adjective
- un·posi·tive·ly adverb
- un·posi·tive·ness noun
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of positive1
C13: from Late Latin positīvus positive, agreed on an arbitrary basis, from pōnere to place
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