POSITIVE


Meaning of POSITIVE in English

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.

Phrases and idioms:

positive 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.

Derivatives:

positively adv. positiveness n. positivity n.

Etymology: ME f. OF positif -ive or L positivus (as POSIT)

Oxford English vocab.      Оксфордский английский словарь.