affirmative
UK/əˈfɜːmətɪv//əˈfɝməɾɪv/
affirmative adjective: pertaining to truth; asserting that something is; affirming.
Adjective
affirmative (comparative more affirmative, superlative most affirmative)
- pertaining to truth; asserting that something is; affirming
- an affirmative answer
- pertaining to any assertion or active confirmation that favors a particular result
- positive
- an affirmative vote
- Confirmative; ratifying.
- an act affirmative of common law
- Dogmatic.
- Lyſicles vvas a little diſconcerted by the affirmative air of Crito; but after a ſhort pauſe replied briskly, […]1732, George Berkeley, “The Second Dialogue”, in Alciphron: Or, The Minute Philosopher. […], volume I, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, section IX, page 92
- Expressing the agreement of the two terms of a proposition.
- positive; not negative
Noun
affirmative (plural affirmatives)
- Yes; an answer that shows agreement or acceptance.
- That’s an affirmative Houston, the space shuttle has lost the secondary thrusters.
- 10-4 good buddy. That’s an affirmative—the tractor trailer is in the ditch at the side of the highway.
- Antonyms:
- negative
- An answer that shows agreement or acceptance.
- An assertion.
- that every hare is both male and female, beside the vulgar opinion, was the affirmative of Archelaus, of Plutarch, Philostratus, and many more.1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, III.17
Interjection
affirmative meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu
affirmative in Hindi
- affirmative
- स्वीकारात्मक svīkārātmak
affirmative in Tamil
- ஆம் என்று கூறுகிற, உடன்பாடான
affirmative in Urdu
- affirmative, demonstrative
- اثباتی isbāti
affirmative in Telugu
- affirmative
- భావార్థకము bhāvārthakamu
More languagesFewer languages
- affirmative in Malayalam
- അസന്ദിഗ്ദ്ധമായ, ഉറപ്പായ, സമ്മതസ്വഭാവമുള്ള, പ്രതിജ്ഞാരൂപത്തിലുള്ള
- affirmative in Kannada
- ದೃಢಪಡಿಸುವ, ಎತ್ತಿಹಿಡಿಯುವ, ಸ್ಥಿರಪಡಿಸುವ
Examples of affirmative in a sentence
- If the answer is affirmative, then he is qualified to talk to us.
- Another BWMT member said bars have no open advertising for bartenders and no affirmative action policy.
- An affirmative answer was given by Simon in a recent paper on natural merotopies.
Antonyms of affirmative
Forms of affirmative
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more affirmative |
| superlative | most affirmative |
| Noun | |
| plural | affirmatives |
Origin of affirmative
From Middle English affirmative, affirmatyve, from Old French affirmatif, from Latin affirmativus, from affirmare (“to assert”).
Words formed from affirmative
Phrases with affirmative
Questions about affirmative
- What does affirmative mean?
- Affirmative means pertaining to truth; asserting that something is; affirming.
- What is affirmative in Hindi?
- Affirmative in Hindi is स्वीकारात्मक (svīkārātmak). See Affirmative meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is affirmative?
- Affirmative can be an adjective, a noun or an interjection.
- How do you pronounce affirmative?
- Affirmative is pronounced /əˈfɜːmətɪv/ (UK).
Words near affirmative in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: affirmative (page history and authors); स्वीकारात्मक (Hindi) (page history and authors); affirmative (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); اثباتی (Urdu) (page history and authors); భావార్థకము (Telugu) (page history and authors); affirmative (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); affirmative (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-affirmative.ogg.
Cite this entry: “affirmative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/affirmative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.