English Dictionary

AFFIRMATIVE

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does affirmative mean? 

AFFIRMATIVE (noun)
  The noun AFFIRMATIVE has 1 sense:

1. a reply of affirmationplay

  Familiarity information: AFFIRMATIVE used as a noun is very rare.


AFFIRMATIVE (adjective)
  The adjective AFFIRMATIVE has 3 senses:

1. affirming or giving assentplay

2. expecting the bestplay

3. expressing or manifesting praise or approvalplay

  Familiarity information: AFFIRMATIVE used as an adjective is uncommon.


 Dictionary entry details 


AFFIRMATIVE (noun)


Sense 1

Meaning:

A reply of affirmation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

he answered in the affirmative

Hypernyms ("affirmative" is a kind of...):

affirmation; avouchment; avowal (a statement asserting the existence or the truth of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "affirmative"):

yes; yea (an affirmative)

double negative (an affirmative constructed from two negatives)

Antonym:

negative (a reply of denial)

Derivation:

affirmative (affirming or giving assent)


AFFIRMATIVE (adjective)


Sense 1

Meaning:

Affirming or giving assent

Synonyms:

affirmative; affirmatory

Context example:

affirmative votes

Similar:

assentient (expressing agreement or consent)

Also:

favorable; favourable (encouraging or approving or pleasing)

positive (characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.)

Antonym:

negative (expressing or consisting of a negation or refusal or denial)

Derivation:

affirm (say yes to)

affirmative (a reply of affirmation)


Sense 2

Meaning:

Expecting the best

Synonyms:

affirmative; optimistic

Context example:

an affirmative outlook

Similar:

positive (characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.)

Derivation:

affirmativeness (the agreeable quality of one who assents)


Sense 3

Meaning:

Expressing or manifesting praise or approval

Synonyms:

affirmative; approbative; approbatory; approving; plausive

Context example:

an affirmative nod

Similar:

favorable; favourable (encouraging or approving or pleasing)


 Context examples 


“Twist it, an’ you’ll choke ’m plentee,” said Manuel, and the stranger grunted a ready affirmative.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Mr. Dick—with rather a scared look, as if he had forgotten it—returned a hasty answer in the affirmative.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The non-affirmative response to a question.

(No, NCI Thesaurus)

Oh, that some encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative!

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“Did you ever remark that door?” he asked; and when his companion had replied in the affirmative, “It is connected in my mind,” added he, “with a very odd story.”

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

She answered in the affirmative, and, unable to resist the temptation, added, “When you met us there the other day, we had just been forming a new acquaintance.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Impossible to reply to this in the affirmative: my little world held a contrary opinion: I was silent.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In a hurried manner, he replied in the affirmative.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Emma was almost too much astonished to answer; but Mrs. Elton hardly waited for the affirmative before she went on.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The prizefighter smiled an affirmative.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
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