Positive
['pɒzɪtɪv] or ['pɑzətɪv]
Definition
(noun.) a film showing a photographic image whose tones correspond to those of the original subject.
(noun.) the primary form of an adjective or adverb; denotes a quality without qualification, comparison, or relation to increase or diminution.
(adj.) having a positive charge; 'protons are positive' .
(adj.) formally laid down or imposed; 'positive laws' .
(adj.) characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.; 'a positive attitude'; 'the reviews were all positive'; 'a positive benefit'; 'a positive demand' .
(adj.) greater than zero; 'positive numbers' .
(adj.) reckoned, situated or tending in the direction which naturally or arbitrarily is taken to indicate increase or progress or onward motion; 'positive increase in graduating students' .
(adj.) indicating existence or presence of a suspected condition or pathogen; 'a positive pregnancy test' .
Checked by Annabelle--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Having a real position, existence, or energy; existing in fact; real; actual; -- opposed to negative.
(a.) Derived from an object by itself; not dependent on changing circumstances or relations; absolute; -- opposed to relative; as, the idea of beauty is not positive, but depends on the different tastes individuals.
(a.) Definitely laid down; explicitly stated; clearly expressed; -- opposed to implied; as, a positive declaration or promise.
(a.) Hence: Not admitting of any doubt, condition, qualification, or discretion; not dependent on circumstances or probabilities; not speculative; compelling assent or obedience; peremptory; indisputable; decisive; as, positive instructions; positive truth; positive proof.
(a.) Prescribed by express enactment or institution; settled by arbitrary appointment; said of laws.
(a.) Fully assured; confident; certain; sometimes, overconfident; dogmatic; overbearing; -- said of persons.
(a.) Having the power of direct action or influence; as, a positive voice in legislation.
(a.) Corresponding with the original in respect to the position of lights and shades, instead of having the lights and shades reversed; as, a positive picture.
(a.) Electro-positive.
(a.) Hence, basic; metallic; not acid; -- opposed to negative, and said of metals, bases, and basic radicals.
(n.) That which is capable of being affirmed; reality.
(n.) That which settles by absolute appointment.
(n.) The positive degree or form.
(n.) A picture in which the lights and shades correspond in position with those of the original, instead of being reversed, as in a negative.
(n.) The positive plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell.
Typed by Barack
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Express, direct, explicit, determinate, defined, precise, definite, clear, unequivocal, unmistakable, categorical, expressed, laid down, not implied.[2]. Real, actual, veritable, substantial, true, absolute, existing in fact, not ideal, not imagined, not negative.[3]. Confident, sure, assured, certain, fully convinced.[4]. Dogmatic, stubborn, peremptory, obstinate, over-confident, tenacious.
Checked by Jennie
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:real, actual, substantial, absolute, independent, unconditional, unequivocal,explicit, fixed, settled, definitive, indisputable, decisive, express, enacted,assured, confident, direct, dogmatic, overbearing, dogmatical
ANT:Negative, insubstantial, unreal, fictitious, imaginary, relative, contingent,dependent, conditional, implied, dubious, questionable, moral, uncertain,doubtful, indirect, occasional, suspicious
Typist: Wesley
Definition
adj. definitely placed or laid down: clearly expressed: really existing: actual: not admitting of any doubt or qualification: decisive: settled by distinct appointment: arbitrarily prescribed laid down—opp. to Natural: too confident in opinion: fully assured: certain: (gram.) noting the simple form of an adjective—as Positive degree of comparison: (math.) greater than zero to be added as Positive quantity: (phot.) having the lights and shades in the picture the same as in the original instead of being reversed: (electr.) having a relatively high potential—opp. to Negative (q.v.).—n. that which is placed or laid down: that which may be affirmed: reality: a positive picture—opp. to Negative.—adv. Pos′itively.—ns. Pos′itiveness state or quality of being positive: certainty: confidence; Pos′itivism actual or absolute knowledge; Pos′itivist a believer in positivism.—Pos′itivism Positive philosophy the philosophical system originated by Comte (1798-1857)—its foundation the doctrine that man can have no knowledge of anything but phenomena and that the knowledge of phenomena is relative not absolute.
Edited by Bonita
Unserious Contents or Definition
adj. Mistaken at the top of one's voice.
Typist: Rex
Examples
- Let it suffice h ere to state that Rutherford assumes that the greater mass of the atom consis ts o f negatively charged particles rotating about a positive nucle us. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- There can be no positive objection, Sir Percival, to that reason---- Very well! Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- We do not have to draw out or educe positive activities from a child, as some educational doctrines would have it. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Both women were positive upon the point. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- The perpetual allotment and destination of this fund, indeed, is not always guarded by any positive law, by any trust-right or deed of mortmain. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- But it is time for a positive statement. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- It is evident the idea of darkness is no positive idea, but merely the negation of light, or more properly speaking, of coloured and visible objects. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- This man declares that he was not absent from his post for an instant, and he is positive that neither boy nor man could have gone that way unseen. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- He needs to be made conscious of consequences as a justification of the positive or negative value of certain objects. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- He had positive bodily pain,--a violent headache, and a throbbing intermittent pulse. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- We are not even positive about their relative relationship. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- She always envied, almost with resentment, the strange positive fullness that subsisted in the atmosphere around Ursula and Birkin. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- There is a positive vulgarity in carrying your business affairs about with you as you do. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- The Directory was pleased with the offer, but the government was in so much of a turmoil that it was months before any positive action was taken. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Reproductions were obtained in the same way, positive prints being observed through a magnifying glass. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- If properly treated, a negative remains good for years, and will serve for an indefinite number of positives or true photographs. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- In 1880 Muybridge produced, in San Francisco, the ‘Zoopraxiscope,’ which projected pictures (on glass positives) on a screen. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- At the end of the scene the negative is developed in the ordinary way, and is then ready for use in the printing of the positives for sale. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Three sets of each of these positives were made, and all put into separate test tubes with a uniform type of negative element. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- This completed the negative or stencil from which the positives are printed by passing rays of light through it upon sensitive paper. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
Editor: Rena