Ne*ga"tion (?), n. [L. negatio, fr. negare to say no, to deny; ne not +
the root of aio I say; cf. Gr. &?;, Skr. ah to say; cf. F. négation.
See No, adv., and cf. Adage, Deny, Renegade.] 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.
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 (below). -- 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.
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Neg"a*tive, n. [Cf. F. négative.] 1. A proposition by which something
is denied or forbidden; a conception or term formed by prefixing the
negative particle to one which is positive; an opposite or
contradictory term or conception.
This is a known rule in divinity, that there is no command that
runs in negatives but couches under it a positive duty.
South.