NOT


Meaning of NOT in English

I. |nät, usu -äd.+V adverb

or -nt or -n't (ə)n(t), ( ə )n(t) ; also -not (|)nät sometimes -_nət, usu -d.+V

Etymology: Middle English, alteration of nought, from nought, pron. — more at naught

1.

a. — used as a function word to turn an expression consisting of a word or group of words into an implicitly opposite expression

not pregnant

not in sight

the team did not win

if he will not go

the telephone is not ringing

will not pay the bill

there has not been time — Lois M. Miller

a faint smell of disinfectant, but it did not reek of the stuff — Phil Stong

we could not defend the Philippines — James Forrestal

recommend that we not offend against charity — G.H.Dunne

may insist that prefabricated products be not used in the buildings they work in — T.W.Arnold

can not read or write — Vicki Baum

yield not to temptation

b. : no

my cold is not worse than yesterday

was not less fortunate in marriage — T.B.Macaulay

there were not cleaner windows … in the whole street — Charles Dickens

should like to know how language evolved from what was not language — C.F.Hockett

c. : in no manner or degree : in no way : nowise

not at all satisfactory

not near so expensive

it is certainly not the viewpoint of the minister — C.F.Hunter

thou shalt not kill

d. — used as a function word to stand for the opposite of a preceding group of words

changes in the environment are sometimes beneficial to the animals and sometimes not — W.H.Dowdeswell

the little girl used to sit very quiet and be good and the little boy used not — James Stephens

if not , you'll be sorry

and often correlatively

will he be here or not

whether you need to make decisions or not — W.J.Reilly

e. — used especially with think to negate a following noun clause

I do n't think it will rain

do n't think I'll go

or without a verb to introduce a clause

not that it matters

not that it doesn't matter

not that my congratulations to her would not have been tempered with misgivings — Walter de la Mare

the poem is bad, not because it is didactic — S.E.Hyman

not to go is a mistake

f. — used without modifying the meaning of an expression containing another negative

could n't stand it no longer — Mark Twain

— compare double negative

2. — used as a generalized negative function word to express an unspecified degree of comparative difference varying from almost identical to almost opposite

today is not Wednesday

in better light you can see the cloth is not black

not a full cup, please

five dollars does n't count in that place

the question is not as simple as it seems — A.G.Hays

will be found that it is not so easy as it seems — J.A.Powell

in the auditorium there were many not idolators who found their admiration mixed with apprehension — John Mason Brown

the holdups he took part in were not carefully planned — Croswell Bowen

was not merely a man of words — Quarterly Journal of Speech

he's not all there

try not to hurt me so much

not paying careful attention to the warnings

charged with not assuming full responsibility

after your not heavy body shrunken in death — Amy Lowell

3. : not even : not so much as

not a red cent

not a dog would bark at him — Washington Irving

five wounded and not a man killed — S.C.Williams

4. : never

ten years old and not been to a circus

5. : otherwise

whalers were more often than not three or four years away from port — Sacheverell Sitwell

6. : slightly less than : somewhat less than : hardly

while not as interesting as similar works — E.C.Carter

— usually used with an intensive (as very, quite, always, wholly) and sometimes with half

the clergy and elders … by and large, are not very helpful — John Cogley

for the armed forces, life is not quite as trying as it is for the civilian — Emily Hahn

the canvasses by other writers have not been as revealing — Harold Fields

the irony of this not altogether heartening disclosure — Sat. Eve. Post

the conditions today are not half bad

7. — used as a function word before a negative word to express an intentionally unemphatic affirmation

not dishonest

not implausibly

not atypical

not inconsistent with law — U.S. Code

not unreasonable or unexpected — Atlantic

8. — used as the first element of the correlatives not only … but

will have brought about not only the defect of evil, but some permanent good — Julian Huxley

effective not only in terminating an unlawful conspiracy, but in limiting price increases — T.W.Arnold

of the correlatives not only … but also

not only the spelling of the words, but also the grammatical forms become conventionalized — William Chomsky

of the correlatives not … but

not a country town but a metropolis — Leslie Stephen

our most significant contribution to general culture, however, was made not in modern times but in Saxon times — Kemp Malone

of the correlatives not … nor

not for wealth nor for fame did he strive — J.A.Powell

did not speak nor stir — B.A.Williams

or of the correlatives not … or

such quotations do not discredit or impair the sincerity — William Hard

not folded bud, or wave that laps a shore — Phyllis McGinley

- not a little

II. ˈnät, usu -äd.+V noun

( -s )

: negation , negative

III. preposition

: other than : except

nobody not a professor has the remotest idea — W.L.Sullivan

IV. adjective

or nott “

Etymology: Middle English, close-cropped, from Old English knot

dialect England : polled

V. noun

or nott “

( -s )

dialect England : a hornless sheep, cow, or steer

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.