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positive

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adjective

formally or arbitrarily set; conventional; artificial: a positive law
definitely set; explicitly laid down; admitting of no question or modification; express; precise; specific: positive instructions
1. having the mind set or settled; confident; assured: a positive person
2. overconfident or dogmatic
showing resolution or agreement; affirmative; certain: a positive answer
tending in the direction regarded as that of increase, progress, etc.: clockwise motion is positive
making a definite contribution; constructive: positive criticism
unrelated to anything else; independent of circumstances; absolute; unqualified
that has, or is considered as having, real existence in itself, not just in the absence of other attributes: a positive good
based, or asserted as based, on reality or facts: positive proof
concerned only with real things and experience; empirical; practical
Informal complete; absolute; out-and-out: a positive fool
Biol. directed toward the source of a stimulus: positive tropism
☆ Elec.
1. of, generating, or charged with positive electricity
2. having a deficiency of electrons
Gram.
1. of an adjective or adverb in its simple, uninflected or unmodified form or degree; neither comparative nor superlative
2. of this degree
Math. designating a quantity greater than zero, or one to be added; plus
Med. having or demonstrating, showing, or proving the presence or existence of a condition, an infection, symptoms, bacteria, etc.: a patient who is positive for TB, a positive TB test
Photog. with the light and shade corresponding to those of the subject

noun

something positive, as a degree, quality, condition, etc.; specif.,

Elec. a terminal, electrode, or plate that attracts a flow of electrons from a negative terminal, electrode, or plate, as in a storage battery or dry cell
Gram. the positive degree; also, a word or form in this degree
Math. a quantity greater than zero, or one to be added; plus quantity
Photog. a photographic print, or a film for use in a projector, on which light and shadow correspond to what they were in the subject

Related Forms:

positively adverb
positiveness noun

See positive in American Heritage Dictionary 4

(pŏzˈĭ-tĭv)

adjective

Characterized by or displaying certainty, acceptance, or affirmation: a positive answer; positive criticism.
Measured or moving forward or in a direction of increase or progress.
Explicitly or openly expressed or laid down: a positive demand.
Admitting of no doubt; irrefutable: positive proof.
a. Very sure; confident: I'm positive he's right. See Synonyms at sure.
b. Overconfident; dogmatic.
Formally or arbitrarily determined; prescribed.
Concerned with practical rather than theoretical matters.
Composed of or characterized by the presence of particular qualities or attributes; real.
Philosophy
a. Of or relating to positivism.
b. Of or relating to laws imposed by human authority rather than by nature or reason alone: “the glaring discrepancy between American positive law and natural rights” (David Brion Davis).
c. Of or relating to religion based on revelation rather than on nature or reason alone.
Informal Utter; absolute: a positive darling.
Mathematics
a. Relating to or designating a quantity greater than zero.
b. Relating to or designating the sign (+).
c. Relating to or designating a quantity, number, angle, or direction opposite to another designated as negative.
Physics Relating to or designating an electric charge of a sign opposite to that of an electron.
Medicine Indicating the presence of a particular disease, condition, or organism: a positive test for pregnancy.
Biology Indicating or characterized by response or motion toward the source of a stimulus, such as light: positive tropism.
Having the areas of light and dark in their original and normal relationship, as in a photographic print made from a negative.
Grammar Of, relating to, or being the simple uncompared degree of an adjective or adverb, as opposed to either the comparative or superlative.
Driven by or generating power directly through intermediate machine parts having little or no play: positive drive.

noun

An affirmative element or characteristic.
Mathematics A quantity greater than zero.
Physics A positive electric charge.
A photographic image in which the lights and darks appear as they do in nature.
Grammar
a. The uncompared degree of an adjective or adverb.
b. A word in this degree.
Music A division of some pipe organs, similar in sound to the great but smaller and less powerful.

Related Forms:

posˈi·tive·ly adverb

posˈi·tive·ness, posˌi·tivˈi·ty noun

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