POSITIVE


Meaning of POSITIVE in English

transcription, транскрипция: [ ˈpɔzətɪv ]

adj. & n. --adj. 1 formally or explicitly stated; definite, unquestionable (positive proof). 2 (of a person) convinced, confident, or overconfident in his or her opinion (positive that I was not there). 3 a absolute; not relative. b Gram. (of an adjective or adverb) expressing a simple quality without comparison (cf. COMPARATIVE, SUPERLATIVE). 4 colloq. downright; complete (it would be a positive miracle). 5 constructive; directional (positive criticism; positive thinking). 6 marked by the presence rather than absence of qualities or Med. symptoms (a positive reaction to the plan; the test was positive). 7 esp. Philos. dealing only with matters of fact; practical (cf. POSITIVISM 1). 8 tending in a direction naturally or arbitrarily taken as that of increase or progress (clockwise rotation is positive). 9 greater than zero (positive and negative integers) (opp. NEGATIVE). 10 Electr. of, containing, or producing the kind of electrical charge produced by rubbing glass with silk; an absence of electrons. 11 (of a photographic image) showing lights and shades or colours true to the original (opp. NEGATIVE). --n. a positive adjective, photograph, quantity, etc. øpositive discrimination the practice of making distinctions in favour of groups considered to be underprivileged. positive feedback 1 a constructive response to an experiment, questionnaire, etc. 2 Electronics the return of part of an output signal to the input, tending to increase the amplification etc. positive geotropism see GEOTROPISM. positive pole the north-seeking pole. positive ray Physics a canal ray. positive sign = plus sign. positive vetting Brit. an exhaustive inquiry into the background and character of a candidate for a post in the Civil Service that involves access to secret material. øøpositively adv. positiveness n. positivity n. [ME f. OF positif -ive or L positivus (as POSIT)]

English main colloquial, spoken dictionary.      Английский основной разговорный словарь.