Word.ws English Dictionary

double negative

double negative noun: a phrase including two negative words (no, not, never, etc.) especially when used as intensifiers in informal English.

Noun

double negative (plural double negatives)

  1. (derogatory, rhetoric, usually) A phrase including two negative words (no, not, never, etc.) especially when used as intensifiers in informal English.
    • Nuh-nuh-doin'-duh... Nuh-nuh-doin'-duh... We don't need no education...
      Yes, you do. You've just used a double negative.2006 Feb. 17, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4

Forms of double negative

pluraldouble negatives

Questions about double negative

What does double negative mean?
Double negative means a phrase including two negative words (no, not, never, etc.) especially when used as intensifiers in informal English.
What part of speech is double negative?
Double negative is a noun.
What is the plural of double negative?
The plural of double negative is double negatives.

Words near double negative in the dictionary

  1. double moral
  2. double morals
  3. double muscling
  4. double napoleon
  5. double napoleons
  6. double negative
  7. double negatives
  8. double nelson
  9. double nelsons
  10. Double Ninth Festival
  11. double note

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: double negative (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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