Word.ws English Dictionary

neg

/nɛɡ/

neg noun: an expression or implication that one has a negative value judgement of someone in order to make them desire one's approval, especially when trying to pick up a date. Also the clipping of negative.

Noun

neg (plural negs)

  1. An expression or implication that one has a negative value judgement of someone in order to make them desire one's approval, especially when trying to pick up a date.
    • The purpose of a neg is to lower a woman's self esteem while actively displaying a lack of interest in her—by telling her she has lipstick on her teeth, for example, or offering her a piece of gum after she speaks.2005, Neil Strauss, The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, Text Publishing Company, →ISBN, →OL, pages 20–21
    • A neg is not an insult but a negative social value judgment that is telegraphed.2007 February 6, Erik von Markovik, The Mystery Method: How to Get Beautiful Women Into Bed, St. artin's Press, →ISBN, →OL, page 94
  2. (quiz bowl) A penalty for giving an incorrect answer before a toss-up question has been fully read.

Adjective

neg (not comparable)

  1. (LGBTQ slang) HIV negative.
    Antonyms:
    poz

Verb

neg (third-person singular simple present negs, present participle negging, simple past and past participle negged)

  1. (UK, slang) To annoy or irritate deliberately.
  2. (transitive) To express or imply a negative value judgement of someone to make them desire one's approval, especially when trying to pick up a date.
    • I mean, the thing is, overall you want the chick to feel good about herself around you and because of you. It's true that good negging really helps that, but bad negging—negging where she's already insecure—can kill it.2001 January 18, traction_free, “Negging”, in alt.seduction.fast (Usenet), message-ID <9477av$dpq$1@nnrp1.deja.com>
    • She's an 11. This is going to take some hardcore negging.2005, Neil Strauss, quoting Erik von Markovik, The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, Text Publishing Company, →ISBN, →OL, page 151
  3. (Internet, transitive) To leave negative feedback about (someone) in a reputation tracking system.
    • I negged the seller who didn't send me the widget I paid for.
    • It is important to leave feedback to warn others in serious situations, but it is also smart to consider the long-term consequences of racking up lots of negatives because you ‘negged’ someone over a small oversight or a misunderstanding over a three-dollar item.2003 June 2, Jim Griffith, The Official eBay Bible, New York: Gotham Books, →ISBN, →OL, page 71

Proper noun (1) capitalized: NEG

NEG

  1. (Australian, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of National Energy Guarantee.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Neg

Neg

  1. (Australian) Alternative letter-case form of NEG.
    • Guardian Australia understands the Liberal states have caucused, and they want the newly elected Morrison government to reboot the Neg, or something very like it.2019 June 21, Katharine Murphy, “Australia's energy future: the real power is not where you’d think”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

Also used as

neg is also the clipping of negative.

Examples of neg in a sentence

  • As we sped down Lake Michigan Drive, I was still feeling a little star-struck and decided that on account of her uber-hot looks, I'd need to start launching negs at her like there was no tomorrow.2011, Benton Miller with Travis Wolfe, The Journal: Man's Quest for the Perfect Match, Moon Planet Publishing, page 104:
  • Negs include asking whether her nails are real, or saying that you saw someone else wearing her skirt.2012, Meg Barker, Rewriting the Rules: An Integrative Guide to Love, Sex and Relationships, Routledge, →ISBN, →OL, pages 77–78:
  • So when he negs you, it seems unnatural, and you may worry that something’s wrong with your relationship.2011 December 16, Jessica Knoll, “The Surprising Reasons He Turns You Down For Sex”, in Cosmopolitan, archived from the original on 27 Aug...
  • I figured ever compliment I received was me being “negged”—a tactic where people highlight your difference or offer a backhanded compliment in order to make you feel insecure.2022, Devon Price, chapter 7, in Michele Eniclerico, editor, Unmasking Autism, New York: Harmony Books, →ISBN, page 204:

Antonyms of neg

Forms of neg

Noun
pluralnegs
Verb
third-person singular presentnegs
present participlenegging
past participlenegged
pastnegged

Plural of neg: negs

Origin of neg

Clipping of negative.

Words formed from neg

Words that rhyme with neg

19 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about neg

What does neg mean?
Neg means an expression or implication that one has a negative value judgement of someone in order to make them desire one's approval, especially when trying to pick up a date.
How do you use neg in a sentence?
As we sped down Lake Michigan Drive, I was still feeling a little star-struck and decided that on account of her uber-hot looks, I'd need to start launching negs at her like there was no tomorrow.
What part of speech is neg?
Neg can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce neg?
Neg is pronounced /nɛɡ/.
What is the plural of neg?
The plural of neg is negs.

Words near neg in the dictionary

  1. nefrotoxicity
  2. nefs
  3. Neftekamsk
  4. neftgil
  5. Nefyn
  6. neg
  7. neg diff
  8. neg-raising
  9. neg.
  10. nega-
  11. negabent

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: neg (page history and authors); NEG (page history and authors); Neg (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-neg.ogg.

Cite this entry: “neg.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/neg. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.