POSITIVE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does positive mean? 

• POSITIVE (noun)
  The noun POSITIVE has 2 senses:

1. the primary form of an adjective or adverb; denotes a quality without qualification, comparison, or relation to increase or diminution

2. a film showing a photographic image whose tones correspond to those of the original subject

  Familiarity information: POSITIVE used as a noun is rare.

• POSITIVE (adjective)
  The adjective POSITIVE has 11 senses:

1. characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.

2. persuaded of; very sure

3. involving advantage or good

4. indicating existence or presence of a suspected condition or pathogen

5. formally laid down or imposed

6. impossible to deny or disprove

7. of or relating to positivism

8. reckoned, situated or tending in the direction which naturally or arbitrarily is taken to indicate increase or progress or onward motion

9. greater than zero

10. having a positive charge

11. marked by excessive confidence

  Familiarity information: POSITIVE used as an adjective is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POSITIVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The primary form of an adjective or adverb; denotes a quality without qualification, comparison, or relation to increase or diminution

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

positive; positive degree

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

adjective (a word that expresses an attribute of something)

adverb (a word that modifies something other than a noun)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A film showing a photographic image whose tones correspond to those of the original subject

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

film; photographic film (photographic material consisting of a base of celluloid covered with a photographic emulsion; used to make negatives or transparencies)

Holonyms ("positive" is a part of...):

lantern slide; slide (a transparency mounted in a frame; viewed with a slide projector)

• POSITIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.

Context example:

a positive demand

Similar:

affirmative; optimistic (expecting the best)

constructive (emphasizing what is laudable or hopeful or to the good)

Also:

affirmative; affirmatory (affirming or giving assent)

constructive (constructing or tending to construct or improve or promote development)

optimistic (expecting the best in this best of all possible worlds)

supportive (furnishing support or assistance)

Attribute:

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Antonym:

negative (characterized by or displaying negation or denial or opposition or resistance; having no positive features)

neutral (possessing no distinctive quality or characteristics)

Derivation:

positiveness; positivity (a quality or state characterized by certainty or acceptance or affirmation and dogmatic assertiveness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Persuaded of; very sure

Synonyms:

confident; convinced; positive

Context example:

was confident he would win

Similar:

certain; sure (having or feeling no doubt or uncertainty; confident and assured)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Involving advantage or good

Synonyms:

plus; positive

Context example:

a plus (or positive) factor

Similar:

advantageous; favorable; favourable (giving an advantage)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Indicating existence or presence of a suspected condition or pathogen

Synonyms:

confirming; positive

Context example:

a positive pregnancy test

Similar:

Gram-positive ((of bacteria) being or relating to a bacterium that retains the violet stain used in Gram's method)

Domain category:

medical specialty; medicine (the branches of medical science that deal with nonsurgical techniques)

Antonym:

negative (not indicating the presence of microorganisms or disease or a specific condition)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Formally laid down or imposed

Synonyms:

positive; prescribed

Context example:

positive laws

Similar:

formal (being in accord with established forms and conventions and requirements (as e.g. of formal dress))

Sense 6

Meaning:

Impossible to deny or disprove

Synonyms:

incontrovertible; irrefutable; positive

Context example:

an irrefutable argument

Similar:

undeniable (not possible to deny)

Derivation:

positivity (the quality of being undeniable and not worth arguing about)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Of or relating to positivism

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

positive; positivist; positivistic

Context example:

positive philosophy

Pertainym:

positivism (the form of empiricism that bases all knowledge on perceptual experience (not on intuition or revelation))

Derivation:

positiveness (a quality or state characterized by certainty or acceptance or affirmation and dogmatic assertiveness)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Reckoned, situated or tending in the direction which naturally or arbitrarily is taken to indicate increase or progress or onward motion

Context example:

positive increase in graduating students

Antonym:

negative (reckoned in a direction opposite to that regarded as positive)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Greater than zero

Context example:

positive numbers

Similar:

plus (on the positive side or higher end of a scale)

Domain category:

math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)

Derivation:

positivity (an amount greater than zero)

Sense 10

Meaning:

Having a positive charge

Synonyms:

electropositive; positive; positively charged

Context example:

protons are positive

Similar:

charged (of a particle or body or system; having a net amount of positive or negative electric charge)

Sense 11

Meaning:

Marked by excessive confidence

Synonyms:

cocksure; overconfident; positive

Context example:

the less he knows the more positive he gets

Similar:

confident (having or marked by confidence or assurance)

Derivation:

positiveness (a quality or state characterized by certainty or acceptance or affirmation and dogmatic assertiveness)

 Context examples 

Now I will give you the evidence of Susan Tarlton, who is the only person who can say anything positive about the matter.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You can’t hear the discussions that are going on about you, but they are positive, so stay confident.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

“A positive fool,” said Miss Murdstone.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Milatuzumab specifically binds to CD74 on CD74-positive cells.

(Milatuzumab, NCI Thesaurus)

This suggests that GPC1-positive exosomes may be a better biomarker than the current standard.

(Method for Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer, NIH)

If it were not for our fears as to the fate of our companions, it would have been a positive joy to throw myself with such a man into such an affair.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This may inhibit tumor cell proliferation in ER-positive tumor cells.

(Acolbifene hydrochloride, NCI Thesaurus)

Still, of course, one can’t refuse a lady, and such a very positive one, too.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The study found a positive association between intakes of red meat and poultry, and risk of developing diabetes.

(Eating Meat Linked to Higher Risk of Diabetes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The children in the study took probiotic capsule that contained different strains of live bacteria, each of which have been found to have some positive benefits in research.

(Supplements of 'Good Bacteria' Can Enhance Weight Loss in Dieters, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)