negativism

[ neg-uh-ti-viz-uhm ]
See synonyms for: negativismnegativistic on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a negative or pessimistic attitude.

  2. Psychology. a tendency to resist external commands, suggestions, or expectations, or internal stimuli, as hunger, by doing nothing or something contrary or unrelated to the stimulus.

  1. any system of negative philosophy, as agnosticism or skepticism.

Origin of negativism

1
First recorded in 1815–25; negative + -ism

Other words from negativism

  • neg·a·tiv·ist, noun
  • neg·a·tiv·is·tic, adjective
  • non·neg·a·tiv·ism, noun
  • non·neg·a·tiv·is·tic, adjective

Words Nearby negativism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use negativism in a sentence

  • negativism is a state of persistent compulsion to contrary response to suggestion.

  • The negativism and refusal to go to stool are the outcome of the nervous unrest, not its cause.

    The Nervous Child | Hector Charles Cameron
  • Fretfulness and negativism with all children whose management is at fault come in waves and cycles.

    The Nervous Child | Hector Charles Cameron
  • Thus the mother of the child in whom defæcation is inhibited by negativism may have made further observations.

    The Nervous Child | Hector Charles Cameron

British Dictionary definitions for negativism

negativism

/ (ˈnɛɡətɪvˌɪzəm) /


noun
  1. a tendency to be or a state of being unconstructively critical

  2. any sceptical or derisive system of thought

  1. psychiatry refusal to do what is expected or suggested or the tendency to do the opposite

Derived forms of negativism

  • negativist, noun, adjective
  • negativistic, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012