negation

American  

[ni-gay-shuhn] / nɪˈgeɪ ʃən /

noun

• negations
  plural

1. the act of denying.

   He shook his head in negation of the charge.

2. a denial.

   a negation of one's former beliefs.

3. something that is without existence; nonentity.

4. the absence or opposite of something that is actual, positive, or affirmative.

   Darkness is the negation of light.

5. a negative statement, idea, concept, doctrine, etc.; a contradiction, refutation, or rebuttal.

   a shameless lie that demands a negation.

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negation British  

/ nɪˈɡeɪʃən /

noun

1. the opposite or absence of something

2. a negative thing or condition

3. the act or an instance of negating

4. logic

   1. the operator that forms one sentence from another and corresponds to the English not

   2. a sentence so formed. It is usually written –p, ~p, ̄p or ⇁ p , where p is the given sentence, and is false when the given sentence is true, and true when it is false

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• negationist
  noun
• nonnegation
  noun
• renegation
  noun
• negational
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• negations
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of negation

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin negātiōn-, stem of negātiō “denial”; equivalent to negate + -ion

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Explanation

A negation is a refusal or denial of something. If your friend thinks you owe him five dollars and you say that you don’t, your statement is a negation. A negation is a statement that cancels out or denies another statement or action. "I didn't kill the butler" could be a negation, along with "I don't know where the treasure is." The act of saying one of these statements is also a negation. Some negations can be good news, like “No, you don’t have a cavity” or “No, that report isn’t due today.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

negation negations

The models also struggled to parse negation correctly, as in “take with food” versus “don’t take with food.”

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

And my idea of degrowth is not a negation of technology.

From Salon ● May 3, 2024

In a publication, to appear soon, it is argued that both the syntax of subordination and negation systems in Tonya show different patterns and thus diachronic development from the Çaykara variety.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 2, 2024

“You’re not going to have enough current to light up a child’s lightbulb project at a science fair,” he informed Marlon, who did not take such negation well.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2024

The first problem is Keegan’s maladroit use of negation.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

In a prepared statement, the company confirmed negations will resume next week and said it was pleased to go back and “resolve the few remaining open issues.”

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 19, 2023

Peace negations mediated by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in the Saudi coastal town of Jeddah have all but broken down.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 27, 2023

"Naturally, when you are in contract negations, there is always going to be speculation and unless you hear it from me, that's what it is," Hamilton said.

From BBC ● May 25, 2023

It decided to lower the rate by 8.2% after nine months of negations.

From Reuters ● Aug. 12, 2022

The answer is that negation is easy to understand when the proposition being negated is plausible or tempting.23 Compare the negations in these two columns: A whale is not a fish.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

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Related Words

• antithesis
• renunciation
• repudiation

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