\Neg"a*tive\, a. [F. n['e]gatif, 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.
Note: 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[deg] on a thermometer
   means 10[deg] below the zero of the scale.

\Neg"a*tive\, n. [Cf. F. n['e]gative.]
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.
2. A word used in denial or refusal; as, not, no.
Note: In Old England two or more negatives were often joined
      together for the sake of emphasis, whereas now such
      expressions are considered ungrammatical, being chiefly
      heard in iliterate speech. A double negative is now
      sometimes used as nearly or quite equivalent to an
      affirmative.
            No wine ne drank she, neither white nor red.
                                               --Chaucer.
            These eyes that never did nor never shall So much
            as frown on you.                   --Shak.
3. The refusal or withholding of assents; veto.
         If a kind without his kingdom be, in a civil sense,
         nothing, then . . . his negative is as good as
         nothing.                              --Milton.
4. That side of a question which denies or refuses, or which
   is taken by an opposing or denying party; the relation or
   position of denial or opposition; as, the question was
   decided in the negative.
5. (Photog.) A picture upon glass or other material, in which
   the light portions of the original are represented in some
   opaque material (usually reduced silver), and the dark
   portions by the uncovered and transparent or
   semitransparent ground of the picture.
Note: A negative is chiefly used for producing photographs by
      means of the sun's light passing through it and acting
      upon sensitized paper, thus producing on the paper a
      positive picture.
6. (Elect.) The negative plate of a voltaic or electrolytic
   cell.
{Negative pregnant} (Law), a negation which implies an
   affirmation.

\Neg"a*tive\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Negatived}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Negativing}.]
1. To prove unreal or intrue; to disprove.
         The omission or infrequency of such recitals does
         not negative the existence of miracles. --Paley.
2. To reject by vote; to refuse to enact or sanction; as, the
   Senate negatived the bill.
3. To neutralize the force of; to counteract.