positive

American  

[poz-i-tiv] / ˈpɒz ɪ tɪv /

adjective

1. explicitly stated, stipulated, or expressed.

   a positive acceptance of the agreement.

   Synonyms:

   precise, clear, categorical, unequivocal, explicit

   Antonyms:

   indefinite

2. admitting of no question.

   positive proof.

   Synonyms:

   indisputable, incontrovertible

   Antonyms:

   doubtful

3. stated; express; emphatic.

   a positive denial.

4. confident in opinion or assertion; fully assured.

   He is positive that he will win the contest.

   Synonyms:

   unquestioning

   Antonyms:

   uncertain, unsure

5. overconfident or dogmatic.

   The less he knows, the more positive he gets.

6. without relation to or comparison with other things; not relative or comparative; absolute.

7. Informal. downright; out-and-out.

   She's a positive genius.

8. determined by enactment or convention; arbitrarily laid down.

   positive law.

9. emphasizing what is laudable, hopeful, or to the good; constructive.

   a positive attitude toward the future; positive things to say about a painting.

10. encouraging or noting a healthy or balanced outlook toward something, especially toward sex and sexuality (used in combination): the body-positive movement;

    sex-positive attitudes;

    the body-positive movement;

    a gay-positive movie.

11. not speculative or theoretical; practical.

    a positive approach to the problem.

12. possessing an actual force, being, existence, etc.

13. Philosophy.

    1. constructive and sure, rather than skeptical.

    2. concerned with or based on matters of experience.

       positive philosophy.

14. showing or expressing approval or agreement; favorable.

    a positive reaction to the speech.

15. consisting in or characterized by the presence or possession of distinguishing or marked qualities or features (opposed to negative).

    Light is positive, darkness negative.

16. noting the presence of such qualities, as a term.

17. measured or proceeding in a direction assumed as beneficial, progressive, or auspicious.

    a positive upturn in the stock market.

18. Electricity.

    1. of, relating to, or characterized by positive electricity.

    2. indicating a point in a circuit that has a higher potential than that of another point, the current flowing from the point of higher potential to the point of lower potential.

19. of, relating to, or noting the north pole of a magnet.

20. Chemistry. (of an element or group) tending to lose electrons and become positively charged; basic.

21. Grammar. being, noting, or pertaining to the initial degree of the comparison of adjectives and adverbs, as the positive form good.

22. Medicine/Medical.

    1. (of blood, affected tissue, etc.) indicating the presence of a specified medical condition or substance.

       Her urine was positive for opiates.

    2. (of a diagnostic test) indicating the presence of the medical condition or substance tested for.

       a positive test for tuberculosis.

    3. (of a person) diagnosed as having a specified medical condition, or having a specified substance in the body (often used in combination): She tested positive for lupus.

       He's HIV positive.

       She tested positive for lupus.

23. Biochemistry. Rh factor.

24. Mathematics. noting a quantity greater than zero.

25. (of government) assuming control or regulation of activities beyond those involved merely with the maintenance of law and order.

26. Biology. oriented or moving toward the focus of excitation.

    a positive tropism.

27. Photography. denoting a print or transparency showing the brightness values as they are in the subject.

28. Machinery. noting or pertaining to a process or machine part having a fixed or certain operation, especially as the result of elimination of play, free motion, etc..

    positive lubrication.

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noun

positives plural

1. something positive.

2. a positive quality or characteristic.

3. a positive quantity or symbol.

4. a positive test result.

   The athlete was disqualified from competing because his drug test came back a positive.

5. Grammar.

   1. the positive degree.

   2. a form in the positive, as good or smooth.

6. Photography. a positive image, as on a print or transparency.

positive British  

/ ˈpɒzɪtɪv /

adjective

1. characterized by or expressing certainty or affirmation

   a positive answer

2. composed of or possessing actual or specific qualities; real

   a positive benefit

3. tending to emphasize what is good or laudable; constructive

   he takes a very positive attitude when correcting pupils' mistakes

4. tending towards progress or improvement; moving in a beneficial direction

5. philosophy

   1. constructive rather than sceptical

   2. (of a concept) denoting the presence rather than the absence of some property

6. independent of circumstances; absolute or unqualified

7. informal (prenominal) (intensifier)

   a positive delight

8. maths

   1. having a value greater than zero

      a positive number

   2. designating, consisting of, or graduated in one or more quantities greater than zero

      positive direction

9. maths

   1. measured in a direction opposite to that regarded as negative

   2. having the same magnitude as but opposite sense to an equivalent negative quantity

10. grammar denoting the usual form of an adjective as opposed to its comparative or superlative form

11. biology indicating movement or growth towards a particular stimulus

12. physics

    1. (of an electric charge) having an opposite polarity to the charge of an electron and the same polarity as the charge of a proton

    2. (of a body, system, ion, etc) having a positive electric charge; having a deficiency of electrons

       a positive ion

    3. (of a point in an electric circuit) having a higher electric potential than some other point with an assigned zero potential

13. short for electropositive

14. (of a lens) capable of causing convergence of a parallel beam of light

15. med (of the results of an examination or test) indicating the existence or presence of a suspected disorder or pathogenic organism

16. med (of the effect of a drug or therapeutic regimen) beneficial or satisfactory

17. short for Rh positive

18. (of a machine part) having precise motion with no hysteresis or backlash

19. (of a government) directly involved in activities beyond the minimum maintenance of law and order, such as social welfare or the organization of scientific research

20. economics of or denoting an analysis that is free of ethical, political, or value judgments

21. astrology of, relating to, or governed by the group of signs of the zodiac that belong to the air and fire classifications, which are associated with a self-expressive spontaneous nature

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noun

1. something that is positive

2. maths a quantity greater than zero

3. photog a print or slide showing a photographic image whose colours or tones correspond to those of the original subject

4. grammar the positive degree of an adjective or adverb

5. a positive object, such as a terminal or plate in a voltaic cell

6. music

   1. Also called: positive organ.  a medieval nonportable organ with one manual and no pedals Compare portative organ

   2. a variant spelling of positif

positive Scientific  

/ pŏz′ĭ-tĭv /

1. Greater than zero.

2. Having an electric charge or voltage greater than zero.

3. Indicating the presence of a disease, condition, or organism, as a diagnostic test.

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Usage

What are other ways to say positive? To be positive of something is to be fully assured of its truth or accuracy. How is positive different from certain, confident, and sure? Find out on Thesaurus.com.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overpositiveness
  noun
• positiveness
  noun
• superpositiveness
  noun
• unpositiveness
  noun
• overpositive
  adjective
• quasi-positive
  adjective
• superpositive
  adjective
• unpositive
  adjective
• overpositively
  adverb
• quasi-positively
  adverb
• superpositively
  adverb
• unpositively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• positives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of positive

First recorded in 1250–1300; from Latin positīvus; replacing Middle English positif, from Middle French, from Latin, as above. See posit, -ive

Explanation

In the simplest sense, positive means good — or the opposite of negative. If you have a positive attitude about homework, for example, you're more likely to get positive feedback on your report card. Keeping track of positive's many meanings can be positively confusing. For starters, if you're positive about something, you're totally sure. In math, any quantity greater than zero is positive. In medicine, a positive result on a test indicates the presence of a disease. And that isn't a very positive experience for anyone.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

positive positives

Such negativity may allow for the market to jump on positive surprises.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026

That conviction isn’t there yet, but Pochettino’s positive approach likely will be more successful in developing that than the one Jurgen Klinsmann tried before leading the U.S. into the 2014 tournament.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

While increased awareness of male fertility is positive, it's created a vacuum of information, Jayasena warns - meaning men like Jamal take advice from influencers because experts are not always accessible.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

“The positive part of AI is that it’s pushing a lot of people to call our helpline directly”—one staffed by licensed human therapists.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026

I tried to keep up a positive façade for Ma, but I was worried about how I was going to make a success of the store before Ba got home.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

The recruiter walked him through the process and the "positives and the negatives," Price says, and "it was good to see what kind of opportunities are out there".

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

Scientists have long been concerned about so-called false positives, which occur when observations appear to indicate life but later turn out to have another explanation.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 30, 2026

There were plenty of positives for England throughout the qualifying campaign.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026

More Americans now say the energy-hungry facilities have more downsides than positives, according to the Pew Research Center, and 71% oppose having one built in their own area, according to a March Gallup survey.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026

Number one was okay since it was negatives and positives and those aren’t too bad.

From "Slam!" by Walter Dean Myers

Related Words

• constructive
• effective
• forward-looking
• good
• practical
• productive
• reasonable
• useful