false-negative

[fawls-neg-uh-tiv]

noun

1. Medicine/Medical.

   1. a test result that is incorrect because the test failed to recognize an existing condition or finding.

   2. a person who receives this test result.

2. 1. any screening test result that failed to detect a person or thing being sought.

      Let's hope the new body scanner doesn't give us any false-negatives.

   2. a person or thing that is missed by such a test.

      Retrain your spam filter if you’re getting too many false-negatives in your inbox.

adjective

1. pertaining to or being a false-negative.

false negative

noun

1. a result in a medical test that wrongly indicates the absence of the condition being tested for

2. a person from whom such a result is obtained

Word History and Origins

Origin of false negative¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

According to Offit, mothers weren’t always screened, tests could produce false-negative results, and pregnant moms can contract the disease later in pregnancy.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Hispanic women had the most false-positive diagnoses, and Asian women received the most false-negative.

Read more on Science Daily

It seems the agency’s main concern is that the drugs could lead to false-negative HIV screening tests in blood donations, meaning a test shows a donation does not have HIV when it actually does.

Read more on Slate

The revised policy would also preclude blood donations from people taking oral PrEP to prevent H.I.V. infection, a restriction the agency said was designed to avoid false-negative results during blood screening.

Read more on New York Times

Sometimes an at-home antigen test can have a false-negative result.

Read more on Seattle Times