negation

American  

[ni-gey-shuhn] / nɪˈgeɪ ʃən /

noun

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

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

Etymology

Origin of negation

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

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

Here, the researchers found that participants took longer to interpret phrases with negation than they did phrases without negation -- indicating, not surprisingly given the greater complexity, that negation slows down our processing of meaning.

From Science Daily • May 30, 2024

The negation of LeBron James is not related to sports, rather it is a cultural stain.

From Salon • Apr. 20, 2024

But the statement can be translated quickly if you know that “∧” stands for “and at the same time” and that “¬” is a negation.

From Scientific American • Sep. 12, 2023

Had Logan meant to underline Kendall’s name for emphasis or cross it out in an act of negation?

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 2, 2023

That would seem a counsel of despair, a negation of all our hopes of understanding the underlying order of the universe.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking

Related Words

• antithesis
• renunciation
• repudiation